Two days of staff presentations along with council discussions and recommendations have pared more than two per cent from an initial provisional property tax increase for Port Moody homeowners of 10.85 per cent.
Whether it goes any lower, and how it gets there, could be determined by feedback the city gets from residents through an online survey.
Lengthy deliberations by council’s finance committee the past two Fridays resulted in a revised budget that would see property taxes increase by 8.52 percent, or about $248 for an average home assessed at $1.27 million. Higher utility charges would add another $280.
Most of the savings were achieved by phasing in over two years some new positions to be hired, as well as removing some budget items that could instead be funded from alternate sources, like city reserves.
But, cautioned Coun. Diana Dilworth, further cuts could be more noticeable to staff and residents.
“As a council, we are tasked to deliver the best services with the best budget we can,” she said during one of the meetings.
"There’s going to be some very unhappy people. There’s going to be some service impacts potentially.”
Mayor Meghan Lahti suggested there could be some “wiggle room” still to be found in the one per cent levies charged to residents to help pay for the replacement of city assets as well as the implementation of Port Moody’s climate action plan, along with further efficiencies from reserve funds.
“We’re not quite there yet.”
But Paul Rockwood, Port Moody’s general manager of finance and technology, said getting the proposed property tax increase much lower would be “extremely difficult.”
Coun. Samantha Agtarap said it’s a difficult situation for council and staff to navigate the impact to residents pocket books and the possibility of reducing the services they get from the city.
“It’s not a good place that we’re in,” she said.
In addition to its operating expenses, Port Moody is also budgeting $26 million to pay for various capital projects in the coming year.
Some of those include:
- implementation of the Old Orchard Park master plan to construct a new washroom, picnic shelter and path down to the beach
- renewal projects for water, sewage and drainage infrastructure
- improvements to storm drainage in Moody Centre
- reconstruction of various local roads
- making traffic calming measures on Moray Street permanent
- replacing one of the city’s solid waste trucks
- replacing the heat pump system at the Inlet Centre fire hall
The budget survey will be online at the city’s Engage Port Moody portal until Sunday, Nov. 17, along with more detailed information about the budget and an FAQ.
A paper copy of the survey is also available at city hall (100 Newport Dr.). It must be returned by Nov. 15.
Results of the survey will be presented to council at its meeting on Nov. 19 with approval of the final budget expected by next April.
All municipal budgets in British Columbia must be in place by May 15.
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