Homeowners Will See Taxes Rise

PRINCE GEORGE – At the conclusion of a Finance & Audit Committee meeting, staff have direction to return a budget and tax hike of no more than four percent.
Back in December, Council was looking at a tax rate hike of 5.03%. But, when BC Assessment released its roll for 2018, the City had an unexpected windfall, dropping the base rate to 4.33 percent.

But everyone at the meeting was talking about a new, non-negotiable bill City taxpayers will have to pick up from the Province. The new Employer Health Tax adds a million dollars to the City’s budget. 

“We were looking at being able to keep [the tax hike] at two percent. That’s just the price of inflation.  And then maybe another one percent for the additional costs we’ve been hit with for roads and snow clearing. So that would have been about three percent,” explains Garth Frizzell, the Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee. “But, then, in addition, the Employer Health Tax. That’s another million dollars.”

And that’s another one percent on the tax levy. Frizzell says that’s how the Province gets to balance its books, pushing a provincial health tax on the property owners of the city.