Summerland residents will see an increase to their tax bills this year as council has approved a 3.5 per cent increase for this year.
The majority of this increase — 2.5 per cent of the 3.5 per cent — will go to capital reserves, while the remaining one per cent will go to operational requirements.
In a report to council, David Sveltichny, director of finance for the municipality, said a typical home with an assessed value of $584,900 will see property taxes increase by $74.22 this year.
The municipal budget for this year has expenditures of just under $37 million.
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The biggest category is for the municipality’s general fund, which includes services provided by the municipality, but not utilities, debt charges or money to reserve funds.
This category is around 43 per cent of the total budget.
General government costs are more than $1.9 million, protective services come to $2.97 million, garbage and recycling costs are $1.77 million, development services is just under $1.05 million, cemetery services come to $125,048 and recreational and cultural services account for $2.82 million.
The water, sewer and electrical utilities account for more than one-third of the total municipal budget.
Debt charges account for more than $3 million, and transfers to capital and reserves account for $3.68 million.
Sveltichny said the municipality requires an additional $76,300 in order to complete the priorities identified in the financial plan. In addition, 207,000 in additional funding will go to general capital works.
Increases have been adopted for the water, sewer and electrical budgets. The increases, approved in December, were for five per cent increases for water and sewer and a two per cent increase for the electric utility budget.
The financial plan will be presented as a public open house on April 3.
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