Residents in the Cowichan Valley Regional District will see an overall tax increase of six percent.
The 2017 budget was adopted at the December 14th board meeting. Chair Jon Lefebure says it’s a complex budget made up of 177 individual budgets, and varying driving costs. Lefebure says the biggest driving force that was common to all areas in the district was solid waste.
Lefebure says the rate for scrap metal also went down significantly, meaning revenue was down and costs went up. Other major driving costs include transit maintenance due to the aging fleet, increased emergency services budget, improvements to the Island Savings Centre and renovations at Kerry Park Recreation Centre.
Board Chair Jon Lefebure encourages residents concerned by the increase to get in touch with area director to learn about the cost implications in their region.
Cobble Hills residents will face the highest increase at 9.51-percent. That’s an increase of over 1-hundred dollars for the average home owner.
Homeowners in Lake Cowichan will see the least amount of change – as their taxes go up by approximately 16 dollars for a 3.17 percent increase.
The following is a breakdown of the tax increases for each electoral area and municipalities, provided by the CVRD
 
