City of West Kelowna cuts tax increase in bid to help residents during COVID-19 crisis

West Kelowna Council has implemented some minor changes in an effort to help residents suffering during the COVID-19 crisis.

The previously proposed tax increase of 4.8% has been reduced to 2.8% in the hopes of providing “relief,” the council said.

The 1% interest charged on outstanding utility bills will also be eliminated for 2020.

Both the moves were included in the 2020–24 Financial Plan for the city, which was adopted at a council meeting on Tuesday.

“Cutting the tax increase is the right thing to do and we must continue to look for ways to support our residents and businesses who need the help during this difficult time,” said Mayor Gord Milsom.

“This is not an easy decision as it may impact some of the services we provide or lead to setbacks on some of our projects. However, we need to help our community where we can during COVID-19.”

He added: “We are also requesting that the Province of BC expand their Property Tax Deferment Program and extend the tax penalty due date.”

The move to lower the property tax increase is expected to include “some staffing and service-level reductions,” the council explained.

“We hope these measures provide relief and flexibility for those that are under financial hardship and need the assistance,” said Paul Gipps, chief administrative officer.

“Council’s direction is to help ease the financial burden of COVID-19, and staff will bring back solutions to meet that objective.”

He added that the city continues to look at other options that do not put the municipality’s finances at risk.

“This is an unprecedented time for us and we are balancing the need to alleviate the fee and tax burden in our community while preserving the city’s treasury function” said Warren Everton, chief financial officer.

“We are encouraging those in our community who are able to pay their fees and taxes on-time to kindly proceed as best as they can. This will help keep our receivables in a more steady state as we strive to meet our capital and operating budget needs.”

The council added that, as a relatively new municipality, it does not have the depth of reserves necessary to “front financial hardship measures” during such an unprecedented time.

“These combined financial measures provide a good balance of increased flexibility and temporary financial relief measures for our community while we continue to keep our operations running as normal as possible during COVID-19,” said Mayor Milsom.

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