Prince Rupert Council starts process of Two Percent tax increase for 2016 with Special Council session today

Council members start in motion the prospect of a tax increase for July as they make a previously unscheduled appearance in City Hall Chambers this afternoon.

Yesterday, the City posted Notice of a Special Regular Meeting for tonight, set to take place at 5 PM.

Only two items are on the Agenda for the gathering, with Council set to review a Report from the Chief Financial Officer on the 2016 Budget and the recommendation to allocate a two per cent mill rate increase into the 2016 Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, the money to be used  towards asset replacement reserves.

The move to add to the taxation level for 2016 comes after last Month's public engagement sessions, where the City's Financial Office outlined the need to begin to set aside funds for asset replacements. 

That issue is something the Mayor and Council found much agreement on for the most part during the course of their Budget Deliberations this Spring.

The topic made up both parts of the community engagement portion of that Public meeting at the Lester Centre, with audience participation, albeit rather small providing some guidance for the Mayor and Council on the concept.

At the late Thursday afternoon meeting, City Council will also be asked to approve the recommendation to fund the remaining $96,000 request to the Prince Rupert Library as part of the Community Grant Enhancement Application for 2016.

You can review the Agenda and background information related to the meeting from the City's website here.

Council hosts it's next Regularly Scheduled Council session on April 11th at 7 PM.

A review of some of the past work on the 2016 Budget can be found from our archive page here.

While an overview of Council Discussions through the year is available on our Council Discussion Archive.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review