UPDATE 4:35 p.m.
Kelowna City Council made only minor changes to its proposed budget for 2021, but was able to lower the projected tax rate by using reserves.
The tax rate approved after the one-day consultation on Thursday fell from 4.27 percent to 4.04 percent
After a second look at half a dozen budget proposals, the council agreed to fund both an environmentalist position at a cost of $ 197,000 and a master plan for buildings at a cost of $ 125,000 from reserves instead of using taxes.
City Hall renovation continues, with a tax gain of $ 526,400, while a pair of Priority 2 items, a study on snow removal from bike lanes, and extra money for cleaning sports fields have not been added.
A $ 100,000 surcharge for the Journey Home Society was on hold until the society made a presentation early in the new year.
UPDATE 3:15 p.m.
Kelowna City Council has completed the bulk of its budget considerations.
Nothing was specifically removed or added to the budget during the entire process, so the budget impact is 4.27 percent.
However, this number is expected to change at least slightly as the Council takes a second look at a number of items it may add or remove from the 2021 budget.
This includes $ 140,000 worth of items that could be added and nearly $ 850,000 worth of items that were discussed removal.
Adding and removing all of the items still to be discussed would mean a decrease of just over half a percent from the 4.27 percent increase.
UPDATE 3:05 p.m.
The city of Kelowna does not follow the lead of other cities like Vancouver that have kept the line of police spending.
The city council has stamped an application for 11 new positions, including eight civil servants for 2021.
While the city has approved eight new officials, those positions are unlikely to be filled until late 2021. In fact, the eleven members enrolled in the 2020 budget are not expected to arrive until next month.
The 19 new RCMP members are well below the 56 recommended by 2025 in last year’s Griffiths report.
Re-minted Supt. Kara Triance agreed that the new members will allow the city to keep pace with the growth.
She says the new positions will allow the department to stay at one member for every 700 residents, which she put on the high end of the scale.
Triance says officials, due to arrive in early 2021, will be working on more serious crimes. An officer will also be dedicated to training and fill a gap within the department.
UPDATE 2.40 p.m.
The city council intends to add an additional $ 100,000 to the 2021 budget to support the Journey Home Society.
The money, if approved, would be in addition to the $ 150,000 allocated in previous budgets.
The additional funding would help offset fundraising challenges due to COVID-19.
The organization also has no non-profit status.
Additional funding would help support experience and youth programs, as well as marketing and communication efforts.
UPDATE 2:25 p.m.
Kelowna’s community budget for 2021 will include $ 50,000 to identify and host a signature event for the next year and beyond.
Coun. Brad Sieben wondered if, given the current climate, whether this initiative should be put on hold for a year, a Coun. Mohini Singh.
Active Life and Culture director Jim Gabriel says there are plans to put together an event with input from other organizations that could start small and grow into something bigger in the years to come.
And while the current climate surrounding COVID-19 is grim, city councils advocating the spending are confident that something will change this summer.
“By then, citizens will be desperately looking for something positive,” said Coun. Gail given.
“If there is a time to bring people together with the blessing of the provincial health officer, this is it.”
UPDATE 1:40 p.m.
The council will discuss later today how to add $ 20,000 to the 2021 budget for cleaning sports fields.
The council approved the addition of $ 10,000 to the currently allocated $ 9,900.
However, given the increasing use of sports fields through the pandemic, another $ 20,000 listed as Priority 2 will be reviewed at the end of the budget day.
UPDATE 12:35 p.m.
The city council will discuss later today whether to increase the budget for 2021 by $ 20,000 for a study on snow removal from bike paths.
Typically, the city has stored snow from roads onto bike paths and sidewalks.
The study, which would be completed in late 2021, would determine the cost and best removal of snow from bike lanes.
Staff say more people rode later in the year than in previous years and believe that even more people would do so if the bike lanes were cleared regularly.
UPDATE 12:20 p.m.
Some good news for the city of Kelowna going through its 2021 community budget.
It was announced that the city has received $ 7.3 million through the transit recovery program.
A portion of this funding ($ 2.844 million) will be used for higher transit operating costs.
The money was originally supposed to come from transit reserves.
Funding was needed to cover both a loss of revenue due to COVID-19 and an increase in operations for labor, fuel, maintenance and leasing.
UPDATE 11:50 am
The city council continues to examine how to cut the municipal budget in 2021.
The council will take a second look later today at a $ 125,000 application for a building master plan development.
Currently the council has agreed to take a second look at items valued at nearly $ 850,000, more than half a percent of the total budget.
UPDATE 11:30 am
The city council will take another look at a two-year term for a deeper look at the environment and climate change in the city.
The position, which would cost the city $ 195,000 each of the two years, would lead the city’s climate and environmental policies, programs and actions, and provide a full report and recommendations at the end of the two years.
In supporting the position, Coun. Gail Given suggested that climate change is even more pressing than the pandemic.
Mayor Colin Basran believes the position is important to his stated desire for the city to do more about the climate.
UPDATE 10:10 am
The city council is trying to delay part of the renovation work in the town hall. The 2021 budget is $ 4.685 million for Phases 4 and 5 renovations, with $ 526,400 in taxes.
The point will be discussed at the end of the budget process.
Staff argued that the renovations, which were previously delayed twice, could result in overall savings of perhaps 25-30 percent if done together rather than dividing them into two phases.
The renovations would also allow the city to suspend the Lawrence Avenue lease by bringing some employees back to City Hall.
Mayor Basran, who voted against further discussion, wondered if the city council was using the renovation of the town hall as a means of reducing the number of households.
UPDATE 9:30 am
Not many changes within the Kelowna Fire Department by the 2021 budget.
The fire department will just add one new position, a fire inspector who will help the fire department catch up on inspections across the city.
Fire chief Travis Whiting says the position is important as the fire station continues to lag behind in the number of inspections that can be performed each year.
He said the department performs between 75 and 80 percent of the building inspections it should be doing each year.
The department will also spend $ 50,000 to analyze the future location of a new Glenmore fire station slated for 2024.
UPDATE 9:15 am
Before considering the community budget for 2021, Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran said 2020 had been a different and difficult year due to COVID-19. However, it is important to stick to the city’s “proven financial policies and strategies to ensure Kelowna can weather this storm.” Position yourself for rest. “
“We must continue to be agile, resilient, and not afraid of doing things differently to ensure that we keep pace with the growth of our community and continue to provide the essential services that are expected of us as individuals.”
He said Kelowna grew faster than expected in 2020 as it continued to attract new residents.
Basran reminded residents that, unlike the provincial and federal governments, the city cannot have a budget deficit.
City administrator Doug Gilchrist acknowledged that the city saw a significant drop in sales in 2020 due to the pandemic. Some of these, he said, will continue through 2021.
The province-provided BC Restart funds will help make up for some, but not all, of those losses, Gilchrist said.
Much of these funds are used for losses in gaming and airport revenues.
Your tax fate is in your hands.
Kelowna City Council will spend much of today on the entire city’s 2021 budget.
The line-by-line exercise starts at 9 a.m.
On the table is a proposed 4.27 percent tax hike which, if approved as it is, would be the second highest increase since the turn of the century.
That would mean that in the average Kelowna home, taxpayers would pay about $ 90 more per year in local taxes than a year ago.
Castanet will provide real-time updates during the budget debate. We will also stream the deliberations live from 9 a.m.
Photo: City of Kelowna
