Property taxes are increasing in the Municipality of North Cowichan, but not by as much as originally thought.
North Cowichan has given final reading to its five-year financial plan and along with the one-point-three per cent increase in inflation. An additional increase of one-point-three per cent is a result of hiring needs in the municipality.
$230,000 dollars is earmarked to hire clerical staff while an additional $208,000 is going to pay a new police officer at the North Cowichan/Duncan R.C.M.P. detachment.
A new 23 million dollar R.C.M.P. detachment is planned for the municipality, but because the final building options weren’t completed in time, that project has been pushed to 2019.
The two-point-six per cent increase is substantially lower than the originally forecasted increase to property taxes, which sat at more than three per cent.
