FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
January 17, 2022
The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce wishes to express its concern about the City of Kamloops’s preliminary budgeted property tax increase for 2022.
The Chamber recognizes and applauds the City for its past work in keeping tax increases to low levels, particularly last year’s increase of less than 1%.
The Chamber also understands that a significant portion of the preliminary increase figure of 4.89% for residential and business ratepayers is due to circumstances largely beyond the City’s direct control, particularly the RCMP’s new collective agreement and contractual increases in its collective agreements as well as general inflation and decreased City revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, at the same time Kamloops businesses have been under tremendous pressures for most of the past two years due to COVID, wildfires and with flooding cutting off our transportation infrastructure. The addition of a significant property tax increase will only increase those pressures and may well be the difference for some local businesses between continuing to operate and choosing to close down.
The Chamber urges the City to be extremely cautious with all its supplementary budget funding requests with an eye to keeping the 2022 property tax increase as low as possible to meet core obligations and, if necessary, adjusting service levels to better meet demand.
The Chamber also encourages the City to be as creative as possible in seeking new revenue streams and opportunities to reduce the burden on property tax payers.
Media Contact:
Acacia Pangilinan
Executive Director
Kamloops Chamber of Commerce
P: 778-257-5900
E: acacia@kamloopschamber.ca