North Saanich approved its 2025 draft budget that includes an 8.74 per cent property tax increase.
Couns. Irene McConkey and Sanjiv Shrivastava were in opposition to the motion which passed 4-2 at the Monday (March 10) meeting.
On March 3, the budget committee adopted a financial plan that will increase the average household's annual tax payment by $161 or $13 per month.
The main reason for the tax hike is the above-average cost inflation over the last two years, which has made it difficult to keep the budget in check, according to the district's draft report.
Not all departments' budgets are subject to a general inflationary increase by the district. Rather, staff review departmental budgets on a cost-by-cost basis and make adjustments as needed based on market data, inflation rates and actual costs, the report stated.
"During our budget deliberations we had an opportunity to reduce our property taxes down from 8.74 to 6.9 per cent by taking money out of our policing reserve funds to offset the costs that are being pushed on us by the changes to our police services, so I will not support this," McConkey said.
Policing services in the district, shared with the Town of Sidney, account for almost 15 per cent of operational costs, with a projected increase in the RCMP contract of $147,000 for 2025. The Fire and Emergency Services budget accounts for 10 per cent of the total budget.
Stephanie Munro, district chief administrative officer (CAO), contends the tax increase is partly due to "an increasing pressure to respond to needs in areas that have not traditionally been local responsibilities."
"These pressures impact the tax increase as the province transfers important expenses for housing, medical first response and police dispatch costs to local governments," she explained.
On Jan. 1, 2025, the province transferred the costs of EComm/911 dispatch services to the district, adding $248,630 to this year's budget. The cost is expected to exceed $409,000 in 2026, which amounts to a 3.04 per cent tax burden.
The district's proposed $28.3 million budget includes $8.1 million of new capital works and investment in existing assets. Capital projects for 2025 include parks, trails, roads, bike lanes, storm water upgrades and replacement of certain sections of the water and sewer infrastructure.
Deputy CAO Rachel Dumas said staff are in the process of preparing the 2025 Financial Plan and Tax Rates bylaws. This will be presented to council on April 7, with final adoption expected on April 28.
The public is still welcome to provide feedback.
