ROBERT BARRON CITIZEN
An average tax increase of 2.95 per cent is being recommended for 2016 in the Municipality of North Cowichan.
Mayor Jon Lefebure said the municipality was considering a tax increase of 2.51 per cent in all classes.
But he said council decided at a meeting Thursday to reduce North Cowichan’s light industrial tax rates by 15 per cent to make them more competitive with other jurisdictions in the province, which means the municipality is looking at increasing the taxes in the other seven categories by 2.95 per cent.
Lefebure said the proposed budget for 2016 is expected to receive the first two readings in council on March 9.
The municipality sought more public input on the draft budget for 2016 than it ever had before.
Four town hall meetings, which saw approximately 170 people attend in total, were held in late January in different parts of the municipality in which staff presented the budget and people were invited to ask questions and share comments on what they felt North Cowichan’s spending priorities should be for the year.
In addition to the town hall meetings, the municipality also provided an online survey on its website about municipal services and satisfaction levels that received more than 200 responses.
“We used to hold a financial open house each year at budget time which typically saw only about 15 people attend, which wasn’t very many,” Lefebure said.
“This council wanted to do more and everyone who participated in the town hall meetings and the online survey really appreciated the opportunity to be part of the process. There was certainly a variety of opinions expressed.”
Lefebure said one surprise that came out of the process was the amount of uncertainty around the issue of amalgamating the City of Duncan with the Municipality of North Cowichan.
He said that “contradicts” the generally positive response towards amalgamation on the non-binding referendum that was held on the issue last year.
“It may just be that the question on last year’s ballot was much broader than the question that was asked during the town hall meetings,” Lefebure said. “But we were given a mandate to move forward with our amalgamation studies at the time, so I think it would be illogical to stop them now.”