North Cowichan has settled on a property tax increase of 2.8 percent this year.
Mayor Al Siebring says the increase includes the debt for the new RCMP detachment but adds they got some assistance from a recent provincial decision to defer a plan to transfer RCMP – E-comm dispatch costs to several municipalities on southern Vancouver Island.
Seibring says the final increase of 2.8 percent for North Cowichan’s portion of municipal property taxes is about one percent lower than he had expected.
He says North Cowichan will be able to maintain what it has been doing and there will be no impact on service levels in the community.
Seibring says there has been pressure for the municipality to speed up approvals of development permits.
However, he says staff decided against hiring an additional person for the planning department, along with some other positions, this year.
Seibring says the 2.8 percent increase is for the North Cowichan portion of property taxes and doesn’t include the Cowichan Valley Regional District portion of the annual tax bill or school taxes.
