At a meeting on Tuesday, February 20, David Hallinan, the City's Corporate Services Director, provided the Committee of the Whole with potential options to reduce the provisional taxation-based funding requirement and the associated impacts on 2024–2028 Five-Year Financial Plan. The provisional budget, originally presented in November 2023, signaled that $14.6 million was required in additional taxation-based funding. This equated to a 10.81% increase over the 2023 budget, or an approximate $270.25 increase to the average house in Kamloops. Since this figure was reported, Administration has identified a few additional revenue sources:

• tax funding growth due to a favourable BC Assessment report ($500,000)
• other smaller revenue class increases ($50,000)

Administration further identified several potential costs savings, including:

• using existing reserves instead of taxation to fund several capital projects scheduled over the next three years and deferring a few other capital projects ($742,500)
• offsetting transit costs with help from a BC Transit reserve ($200,000)
• reducing the budgets for staff training, professional consulting, and information technology system maintenance due to found efficiencies ($1,010,000)
• deferring funding for additional RCMP member support due to hiring delays ($80,000)

In addition to these changes, which the Committee of the Whole endorsed, the report presented several options related to prior Council-approved initiatives. In relation to those options, the Committee of the Whole recommended reducing the 2024 contribution to the Asset Management Fund by half, resuming full funding in 2025.

The Committee of the Whole also recommended a 50% reduction to the 2024 contribution to the Climate Action Levy (0.175% instead of 0.35%). The Committee of the Whole recommended emphasizing active transportation over civic operations efficiencies when determining what to push forward with the reduced levy budget and requested that the question of Climate Action Levy funding for 2025 be brought back to Council for discussion during the 2025 budgeting process. This recommendation equates to a $220,000 reduction in the 2024 taxation requirement.

Director Hallinan provided an overview of the following eight business cases for supplemental budget consideration at the end of the meeting:

• 24.1 Council Request - Kamloops Fire Rescue Medical Response Unit
• 24.2 Council Request - Funding Agreements
• 24.3 Community Request - Todd Road Sidewalk
• 24.4 Community Request - Rose Hill Road Pedestrian Pathway
• 24.5 Community Request - 500 Block Victoria Street Streetscape Project
• 24.6 Solid Waste Truck Technology
• 24.7 Drainage Program Capital Funding Increase
• 24.8 Heritage House Parking Area

The Committee of the Whole will be asked to provide direction related to each supplemental budget item at the March 5, 2024, Committee of the Whole meeting after a period of public engagement. Residents are encouraged to access detailed information on each item and provide their feedback at LetsTalk.Kamloops.ca/Budget2024. An in-person meeting for the public to provide input into the supplemental budget items also took place in the evening on February 20.

View the full report.

View the presentation within the COTW meeting slide deck.