On Feb. 22, the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) discussed taxation on major and minor services.
Linda Mcguire, Granisle mayor, asked whether the growing community funds and environmental services capital were the same.
John Illes, RDBN chief financial officer, said that they were the same. He added that the environmental service needs more than approximately $1.5 million in taxation and tipping fees this year.
Clint Lambert, RDBN Francois/Ootsa Lake director, said that his rural area requires a $700,000 excavator, from which $60,000 was used for truck replacement. He questions the financial chief on why $700,000 was proposed for general operation reserves.
Illes answered that the budget for the excavator had been shifted to 2026. He added that the general contribution to operational reserves will bring RDBN an increase in revenue from the pipeline.
鈥淲ith $700,000, it will make the average residential taxpayer have no tax increase in 2024,鈥� he said.
Major Services: In the last major budget presentation for major services, changes have been made in taxation. The strategic initiatives line items have been reallocated, which has resulted in approximately $1.1 million in new non-market revenue. The pipeline is the major contributor to this increase. As a result, a proposed contribution of $700,000 to the general operational reserves and a $100,000 special service budget has been suggested.
Additionally, there is a proposed contribution of $250,000 from administrative reserves. This includes an increase in vehicle, insurance, and legal reserves, which will be shared on a per staff person basis to all the regional district services. The emergency management budget has also been increased by $50,000 to allow for the implementation of emergency and disaster management act during emergency operations center activities.
These revisions to the major service budgets have resulted in a decrease of the tax rate per $1,000 by 0.6 per cent for rural property owners and one per cent for municipal property owners. However, adjusting for the increase in property values, the average rural property owner will see a 1.7 per cent increase in the amount of taxes they have paid compared to what they paid in 2023. Similarly, the average municipal taxpayer will see a 1.4 per cent increase. Residential property owners should see a relatively stable tax bill compared to 2023.
The Environmental Services taxation amount has reached its maximum of $4.375 million. A long-term financial strategy will be presented in a future committee meeting to plan the future budgets and the implementation of residential tipping fees.
Minor Services: The budgets for minor services usually affect only a few jurisdictions, ranging from one to three. However, some minor services, such as the Bulkley Valley Pool Service, have budgets of over $1 million. The budgets attached to this memo are either being presented for the first time or have been revised with the input of the Directors after obtaining information from member municipalities.
Some budgets are still unavailable since the regional district is waiting for budget information from the municipal partners involved in the service. The deadline for obtaining budget information from municipalities was the end of February.
