Tax notices are expected to be sent out to Duncan residents soon, and the city says rates are expected to increase.
According to the city, the 2025 budget indicates an increase of 11 per cent and was given the green light as council passed the first three readings during an Apr. 14 meeting.
The budget indicates that most of the increases come from police costs (11.73 per cent, $735,799) and capital assets management (1.75 per cent, $110,922) while operating costs account for only a small portion of the budget (0.83 per cent, $53,470).
They say the increase will account for a small increase per person each year.
“The proposed 11.3 per cent tax increase translates to an estimated additional $214 per year for homeowners with a residential property valued at the 2025 average of $585,448,” they say.
According to a report, the city says while the increase seems high there were many factors in the financial plan and the increase of 0.85 per cent to the operating budget saw many cost increases which have weighed in on this year’s plan.
“Inflation requires an increase in taxes, just to keep paying for general maintenance budgets,” they say. “During the last year, we’ve seen higher than average cost increases on items such as fuel, equipment repairs, and material used for street and traffic maintenance.”
In addition, a 1.75 per cent increase was added to the draft plan to help cover capital asset management and replacement of infrastructure and the city says if they don’t raise the budget it puts these services at risk.
“The city would have to reduce maintenance budgets or defer major capital works,” they say. “This could result in failure of an asset, which then would require higher future taxes to pay for emergency repairs or replacement.
“Eventually, the deferred major capital works must be done, which would again result in higher future taxes to do the work that should’ve been done.”
The city has also budgeted 2.31 per cent of additional tax revenue to new construction within the city limits.
They say although the tax rate is going up, it really depends on your property assessment provided by BC Assessment.
“Properties that increase in value by the same percentage as the average property will experience a tax increase at the same rate as the overall tax increase,” the city report says. “Properties that increase or decrease in value by more or less the average will experience in their taxes that are more or less than the average increase.”
To see the full budget visit the city’s website.
