Colwood taxpayers are set to see a slightly higher increase than originally planned for the 2023 budget, after council approved several amendments to accommodate changes to council pay.
At a special council meeting Thursday (April 27), council voted 6-1 to approve a tax increase for 2023 of 6.71 per cent, with Coun. Ian Ward the only dissenting vote.
That is up from the 6.43 per cent approved previously under the 2023-2027 financial plan.
Staff told council the increase equates to an additional $4 for the average household in the city.
It covers part of the $81,400 increase needed for the 2023 budget to accommodate the pay increases, retroactive to Jan. 1, mayor and council are set to receive.
Staff said the tax lift would have been 6.88 per cent to cover the pay increase, but council instead approved a $31,300 cut to the 2023 economic development budget line item to help offset the pay increase’s effect on the tax burden. That cut was made possible by Colwood’s exit from the South Island Prosperity Partnership, effective March 31.
During the special council meeting, Ward expressed interest in the city dipping into its reserve funds to defer the additional tax lift for another year but ultimately decided not to make that motion after seeing little support from the rest of council, and remained in opposition of the resulting budget amendments.
At its April 24 meeting, council formally approved the new remuneration bylaw by a vote of 5-2, with Mayor Doug Kobayashi and Ward in opposition. Kobayashi said his preference was for the pay increase to be phased in, rather than taking effect immediately in its entirety.
Under the new council remuneration bylaw, the mayor’s pay is set as the median of that of 20 comparator municipalities in the province, and councillors’ pay as half of the mayor’s pay. The mayor’s pay for 2023 will increase to $55,785 from $35,436, while councillor pay will increase to $27,892 from $17,718.
The new remuneration formula includes annual adjustments based on Statistics Canada’s annual Consumer Price Index rates for Greater Victoria and will also face a more detailed review in the third year of each council’s four-year term to ensure the rates continue to be competitive with the comparator municipalities.