Trail City Council has approved a 4.25 per cent increase in property taxes for 2024, and they’re due on July 2.
In December, Council first approved increases to the city’s utility rates, with a four per cent hike for sewage and a 7.5 per cent increase for water, equating to about $30 more for water per household than in 2023.
City Manager Colin McClure said the city’s utility revenues have been neglected, which is why the city had to implement the increases to help fund a capital infrastructure deficit in the city’s budget for water.
“There’s a lot of major pipeline renewal that we need to do, and there’s also going to be a need to upgrade the water treatment plant. But there isn’t enough revenue coming in right now to cover the operating costs and also help fund capital.”
Sewage is in good shape, hence the smaller increase in sewage fees, but McClure said the majority of residents have paid their water and sewage fees already, which were due in February.
The city had to submit its completed municipal budget, with finalized municipal tax increases, by May 15.
On May 6, council voted in favour of a 4.25 per cent increase to property taxes.
For an average single-family dwelling home valued at $382,000 in 2024, the increase equals about $45 more in municipal taxes.
McClure said the city managed to find approximately $300,000 in savings for the 2024 budget, which allowed them to keep the property tax increase relatively low.
“It would have been higher except that we’ve had a number of positive things happening. The 2024 increase basically just keeps the normal services going that we have at this point. There was no real increase in taxes to cover anything new.”
2024 Savings
Trail was able to find these savings with the addition of Rossland joining the Trail Resident Program in March, which brought the City of Trail an additional $100,000 in revenue.
The City also started charging a 2.4 per cent service charge for all property taxes and utility bills paid with a credit card in January, which is expected to bring the city another $100,000 in revenue.
The city also saw significant savings from working with Fortis BC on streetlight billings.
McClure said in 2023 Fortis was not charging the city retrofitted rates where lighting had been upgraded to LED, equating to about $100,000 in savings from proper billing in 2024.
“In theory, if we hadn’t had those types of savings, we would have been looking at more like a 6.25 per cent increase or higher,” said McClure.
Revenue at the Trail Memorial Centre, Trail Aquatic and Leisure Centre, and the Airport improved in 2023.
However, the aquatic centre did have significant maintenance issues which went over budget in 2023. Despite this, overall revenue improvements have allowed the city to keep the tax increase lower than what would have been required.
Overall, the 2024 budget plans about $11.5 million general capital, $2.6 million in water capital and $1.7 million for sewage.
Residents can expect to receive their tax assessment notice in the mail this week. They must be paid by July 2 to avoid an automatic 10 per cent late penalty.
McClure said the city is planning to look into offering a payment plan option for taxes in the coming months.
Payments can be made with online through a persons bank or credit union, or in person via cash, debit, credit or cheque. Payments at city hall must be made by 3:30 p.m. on July 2.
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