Kamloops city council has approved a new five-year levy for the North Shore Business Improvement Association.

Executive director of the NSBIA Jeremy Heighton says starting next year, the levy will mean a slight increase in contributions from commercial businesses.

“In an annualized value it’ll be about $33,000 dollars difference. Not a huge lift when you figure it’s almost 300 properties. With that $33,000-dollar difference we can increase some of our events, we can increase some of our marketing. We can actually do more things with that extra funding,” Heighton says.

For 2020, the levy value for the NSBIA will be just over $213, 276, which 299 North Shore businesses pay into.

Following 2020, the levy value will increase 4.5 per cent in 2021, 4 per cent in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and 1.5 per cent in 2024.

Heighton points out that is higher than the average increase of about 2 per cent in recent years.

“What we’re trying to do is get the organization to a point where the levies collected for the organization allow it to be self-sustaining, so we don’t have to go out and look for other funding. It doesn’t mean we won’t, but it means we won’t rely as heavily on external funding, which is at best questionable some years. So it just allows us as an organization to be more predictable in our functioning.”

Heighton says only eight out of the 299 property owners were not in favor, which means 291 of the property owners were.