Vernon tax increases

[tabubil]

I hope many of you from Vernon have seen the news and the budget increase for 2020 is 3.9% with 2% of this going to wages and operations and the rest for infrastructure.
Well if business is so good here in Vernon and we are building so much, and this is via zoning bylaw changes so cheap land can be resold at a higher price and thus building permits will gain more money for the city. But to do this they have to get rid of housing and rezone as med to high density housing and commercial (hey take your rosy colored glass and blinkers off and walk around Vernon we have so much empty space and much of this a new never used) and no mention when they build of affordable or below market for those struggling.
Now I for one am getting tired of every year seeing the wages and operations take up a majority of any increases. Get of the pot city hall and lets shut down the golden jobs at city hall and make that we are getting full value for what we pay these people and take away a few benefits and perks.
Let city hall hall and council know that we their employers and not happy with the way they spend our money.
DO NOT forget we still have to pay for the Cultural Centre, and new recreation centre and all the other things we still owe on and emergencies that arise.
I think the time has come to put a stop on all this spending in the are and put a more into getting those that require housing into affordable or below market value, so as to give them a leg up and possibly fill one of the many jobs that are vacant in Vernon.
Vernon - ticked off

[bob vernon]

The city is growing. That means the roads need widening and resurfacing, the water supply needs upgrading, the sewage plant needs to expand, we need more cops and firemen. Taxes go up to pay for that. Ya wanna let the free enterprise system flourish with unfettered growth? It costs more than it benefits.

[GordonH]

Off topic here

City of Vernon needs to get moti to have contractor do something about the provincial hwy 97 this spring i.e resurface it

[tabubil]

The city is growing. That means the roads need widening and resurfacing, the water supply needs upgrading, the sewage plant needs to expand, we need more cops and firemen. Taxes go up to pay for that. Ya wanna let the free enterprise system flourish with unfettered growth? It costs more than it benefits.

fully agree but why should only unionized workers get paid so much many in the city are in the high 6 figures, as a retired person i just lost money on my monthly checks and I will guarantee that others on pension will not get any raise in payments next year like. I realize that things have priorities but hey at the rate they are taxing the home owner it is not going to make sense to stay in your home, they have to prioritize and water,sewers, and roads should be first as they have neglected for far to long. Try and get an answer to how much the recreation centre and cultural centre are going to add to our year tax bill.
I was a proud union member for different unions and led many strikes and walkouts but believe me the unions (particularly any federal, provincial or municipal ) think they owed more than other people in the country.
All I want is that we start to get value for the money we pay them, I have seen many times city employees just driving around one person in the vehicle for 1/2 to one hour as I followed them. Five people and 3 pickups and one equipment operator to dig and fill a hole in 5 hours that is just wasting time and money.

[tabubil]

Off topic here

City of Vernon needs to get moti to have contractor do something about the provincial hwy 97 this spring i.e resurface it

cannot agree more but that is a provincial area they look after it and so we have to get them to fix it, I have never heard anything from the city about pushing to get it fixed.

[GordonH]

Off topic here

City of Vernon needs to get moti to have contractor do something about the provincial hwy 97 this spring i.e resurface it

cannot agree more but that is a provincial area they look after it and so we have to get them to fix it, I have never heard anything from the city about pushing to get it fixed.

This is why I said off topic

Couple of years ago the entire length of hwy 97/Harvey (Kelowna) was resurfaced, meanwhile hwy 97/32nd St could have used it a long time ago.

[Gixxer]

So your taxes went up 3.9% but your home went up 10% or more in value.

[Sparki55]

So your taxes went up 3.9% but your home went up 10% or more in value.

It doesn't do much good to sell your home to pay your property taxes, gotta live somewhere.

[grant301277]

So your taxes went up 3.9% but your home went up 10% or more in value.

and that's exactly the part i don't get ,property values have skyrocketed in the last few years which equate to a bunch more money for the city should it not ? property taxes are based on property values

[dontrump]

The city is growing. That means the roads need widening and resurfacing, the water supply needs upgrading, the sewage plant needs to expand, we need more cops and firemen. Taxes go up to pay for that. Ya wanna let the free enterprise system flourish with unfettered growth? It costs more than it benefits.

true but 2% of a 3.8% increase for wages and operations is a lot of money the amount of new tax payers based on # of building permits should have more than covered this situation the city pays (example) the HR manager over $180K per year in wages and benefits ;; now thats just one person I don't see where a 2% wage increase would be justified

[dontrump]

So your taxes went up 3.9% but your home went up 10% or more in value.

first of all the two are not related and no houses did not go up 10% in Vernon this year ;; the tax mill rate per $1000 of home assessment which is based on the city budget and has to be approved by the provincial government

so lets say our house is 600000 K and the budget is $1000000 your mill rate would be 1666.66
lets say the assessed value goes to $700000 on the same budget your mill rate would be $1428.57

[bob vernon]

Oh, oh. It now looks like the tax increase will be a lot more than 3.9 percent. It could be nearly 5 percent.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/27 ... e-for-2020

[tabubil]

Well lets stir the pot regarding the tax hike in Vernon. I was upset when it was 3.9 now and 1$ has been added on. My views are now coming.
Why are we hiring two new firefighters and promoting four to lieutenants at what cost no one will tell you. Some big shot must want the insurance lowered in this area as a full time 24/7 fire hall will do this or someone has big plans that the city will not let us the taxpayers is on. It would be nice if the city would make available statistics on all of our fire halls so we can see if they should all be fully staffed 24/7. The last numbers I managed to get was back in 2014 and several requests have netted nothing.
Also why do we have too hire more people at the recreation centre, it has run good in the past, are they starting to fill for the future building. I say miss use of our money.
Then then is all the $75,000 for training city hall staff and some saying that $200 per person is not so bad, well I think it is as we should have our own in house trainer qualified for all areas. Mr Pearce says it is to help retain staff, well if we have to pay our employees more to stay they are not worth it. Let them find a new job and move then they will be happy.
I am done for now maybe I can find more silly ways the city is spending our hard earned tax dollars.

[DetectivePikachu]

Well lets stir the pot regarding the tax hike in Vernon. I was upset when it was 3.9 now and 1$ has been added on. My views are now coming.
Why are we hiring two new firefighters and promoting four to lieutenants at what cost no one will tell you. Some big shot must want the insurance lowered in this area as a full time 24/7 fire hall will do this or someone has big plans that the city will not let us the taxpayers is on. It would be nice if the city would make available statistics on all of our fire halls so we can see if they should all be fully staffed 24/7. The last numbers I managed to get was back in 2014 and several requests have netted nothing.
Also why do we have too hire more people at the recreation centre, it has run good in the past, are they starting to fill for the future building. I say miss use of our money.
Then then is all the $75,000 for training city hall staff and some saying that $200 per person is not so bad, well I think it is as we should have our own in house trainer qualified for all areas. Mr Pearce says it is to help retain staff, well if we have to pay our employees more to stay they are not worth it. Let them find a new job and move then they will be happy.
I am done for now maybe I can find more silly ways the city is spending our hard earned tax dollars.

[vegas1500]

Spec tax is going up....why not every other tax. Funny how some love one tax, and not the other.