Kamloops and District Chamber of Commerce position on City of Kamloops 2023 Budget and Supplemental Items.

The Chamber has released their position on the 2023 City of Kamloops Budget

Released and submitted to Kamloops City Council on March 3, 2023.

The Kamloops and District Chamber of Commerce applauds City staff’s work to reduce the provisional budget average tax increase before supplemental items to below 5% from its initial estimate of 5.60%. These efforts provide a signal to the existing business community as well as to potential new businesses looking to locate in Kamloops that the City believes in economic prudence and is a welcoming economic environment for them.

For this same reason, the Chamber is cautious about supporting supplemental budget items with immediate or future tax implications. This position does not correlate to assessment of the relative value of these initiatives to the community.

The Chamber therefore supports the CSO expansion budget item, to support the safety and security needs of the business community. The Chamber also supports the KFR staffing request as this would enhance the livability of the adjacent neighbourhood and can facilitate additional economic development through construction.

The Chamber supports the community requests for the North Shore Public Realm Improvement Fund and the Venture Kamloops Economic Data surveys as we believe these initiatives will have direct, measurable, and positive impacts on the business community at no immediate further taxpayer cost. The Chamber also supports the installation of the Kamloops Marquee Welcome Sign as it could have a positive impact on our community’s brand and serve
as a nice feature for welcoming visitors to Kamloops.