Residents in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District are now able to have their say into the proposed 2024 budget.
Spokesperson Colton Davies says the TNRD has released a number of new infographics to help property owners better understand what services they get, and how much they pay for it.
“Every single service of a regional district has its own separate budget where money has to go to that service and some services have specific participants, such as fire protection in a rural area,” Davies said.
“It can be very convoluted so some of the infographic material we have online today is what level of government is responsible for what, so there is a general summary of what the TNRD has.”
Taxation Requisition Changes by TNRD Municipality and Electoral Area. (Photo via TNRD)
In total, the TNRD budget is proposing to collect an additional $1.77 million in 2024, giving it a total tax requisition amount of $26.86 million. That is a seven per cent increase when compared to 2023.
“There are all sorts of inflationary costs pressures,” Davies added. “I think the TNRD has really digested things and there has been some really focused efforts on cutting expenses where possible.”
Davies is hoping that residents review this budget and provide feedback.
“For each electoral area and member municipality, you’ll be able to look and find the tax rate per service by $100,000 of assessed value. That is drawn out in 21 different tables so depending on what part of the TNRD you’re in, you’ll be able to find information,” Davies said.
“For example, if you’re a city of Kamloops taxpayer you’re probably wondering ‘what do I pay the TNRD for?’ This list shows that you would pay the TNRD for exactly nine services, with a total tax rate of $24.43 per $100,000 of assessed value. Just over half of that actually goes to the library system.”
Speaking on NL Newsday, Davies says TNRD staff hosted an in-depth budget workshop during a special Committee of the Whole Meeting on Nov. 8.
“Our finance team has worked with our departments at the TNRD and gone through each budget of each service line by line to look at the budget and what to look for next year, and also budgeting out trying to get expectations of the upcoming really five year plan,” he said.
The provisional budget is slated to go before the TNRD Board on Dec. 14.
Davies says it is expected to be approved in March, pending any further revisions and the finalized BC Assessment values being made available.
You can find more details about the TNRD budget process here.
