West Kelowna, BC

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Posted on: April 13, 2018

Council Highlights - April 10, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2018

Budget 2018

Council gave second and third reading to its 2018-2027 Financial Plan which includes a 2.18% tax increase. The budget includes a tax requisition of $32,032,304. The financial plan sets out the proposed expenditures, the proposed funding sources and the proposed transfer to or between funds. The financial plan bylaw must be adopted prior to the adoption of the annual property tax bylaw and both bylaws must be passed before May 15th of each year.

Health Tax Download

Council was advised that the Province announced a new payroll tax for employers with payrolls of $500,000 or more which will take effect January 1, 2019. The new tax is designed to offset the elimination of the Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums effective January 1, 2020. This tax is an additional expense to municipalities, including West Kelowna. The City of West Kelowna can expect to pay an additional $176,750 in MSP payments and the 2019 budget will need to reflect this. This additional cost amounts to an estimated 0.6% tax increase. Council will determine whether to increase taxes, reduce services or reduce reserves to offset this amount during next year’s budgeting process.

Urgent Care Centre

Council agreed to pursue an Urgent Care Centre be constructed in West Kelowna on land owned by Interior Health Authority (IHA) and the Mayor will write a letter asking for support from the District of Peachland, Westbank First Nation, the City of Kelowna and the Director of the Regional District of Central Okanagan’s (RDCO) West Electoral Area, that an Urgent Care Centre be constructed in West Kelowna. The Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix recently announced that the City of Kelowna would be an ideal city for a new urgent care centre. This announcement gives the City of West Kelowna an opportunity to put forward another argument to have a health centre constructed in West Kelowna to serve the greater westside area. Realizing the need for an urgent care centre serving the greater westside, West Kelowna Council commissioned, a study and hired a former IHA manger to conduct a Medical Services Study in 2013. The mandate of this report was to assess medical services within West Kelowna. This report identified that West Kelowna, and in fact, the greater westside area, is lacking in health facilities.

2018 Road Rehabilitation

Council awarded the tender for the 2018 Road Rehabilitation and 2017 flood recovery work to Westlake Paving & Aggregate Ltd. for $1,245,241. The 2018 Road Rehabilitation projects are: