Lake Country is keeping it tight with taxes.
While a $125 parcel tax is proposed for transportation projects, council has adopted a motion that there won’t be a property tax increase in 2016.
“Why would we go for a property tax increase when we can do what we need to do with what we have?” said Coun. Owen Dickie.
Staff had originally proposed a 2.85 per cent hike. If the budget is approved as is, it’s expected that additional costs will be covered by development in the community.
“We can do a whole lot because of new growth. There are more (private) assets and more people paying,” said Mayor James Baker.
“This is one of the benefits of being the fastest growing community in B.C.”
Among the items already included in the draft 2016 budget is the rail trail, and there’s the possibility of other projects being added, such as automatic doors at the seniors centre.
“We’ll try to do it with a zero increase of the rate,” said Baker.
As for the $125 parcel tax, it will be directed towards the Transportation for Tomorrow plan.
“Hopefully there will be grants but we need money to move ahead,” said Baker.
There are 5,000 parcels in Lake Country and Dickie says a parcel tax treats all properties, including agriculture, equally.