Port Moody residents won’t have to dig as deeply into their pockets to pay their property taxes this year.
City council’s finance committee recommended on Tuesday a tax increase of 1.61%. That’s just over 2% less than the 3.62% increase it had initially approved on April 7 before reconsidering last week because of the financial impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on city and residents’ finances.
But just how that savings - estimated to be more than $690,000 - is being achieved is not yet known. Those decisions were made in a closed session earlier Tuesday.
Mayor Rob Vagramov did say, though, “We are not losing any staff as a result of these reductions.”
The possibility of layoffs was a major point of concern for several councillors when staff was tasked last week with compiling a prioritized list of potential cuts to the city’s budget to achieve a savings of around 1.5%.
Instead, Coun. Meghan Lahti said, the economics were achieved “through various methods,” including the reduction or elimination of transfers to reserves and the cancellation of several city events.
Some of those events have already been scrubbed because of the public health emergency and others were likely due to get chopped because of ongoing restrictions against large gatherings to reduce the risk of transmitting the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
But again, which events are being removed from the city calendar were not revealed, although Vagramov told The Tri-City News that “details will be released in the next week or so.”
Coun. Hunter Madsen said Port Moody residents “will see little changes” as a result of the savings.
“It’s going to look like some lawns and boulevards will need haircuts like the rest of us.”
Coun. Diana Dilworth cautioned while the cuts will save taxpayers money this year, they’ll likely be in for a bigger jolt next year when many of the excised items are put back into the budget. But, she added, they’re necessary.
“We all agreed on what needed to be done,” she said. “City hall is hurting as much as the households in our community.”
The revised budget will now go to council for the first of three readings before it’s adopted by the provincial deadline of May 15.
Community grants scaled back
An immediate casualty of Tuesday’s budget cuts was the city’s community grant program that helps fund projects that benefit local residents and businesses. The finance committee recommended only two grants, worth $4,200, be awarded this year: $1,200 to PoCo Meals on Wheels Society, and $3,000 to Share Family and Community Services.
Last year, seven community groups shared $17,900 to help fund programs like a project by the Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society to reduce litter from cigarette butts, a film about Port Moody centenarian, Mary Anne Cooper and a free phone counselling service by the Pacific Post Partum Support Society.
“This is a really tough budget year,” Vagramov said of the reduced funding.
