Over the course of two reports in open Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, staff outlined a series of changes and some final options for the Committee’s consideration in order to begin to finalize the 2026 budget and Five-Year Financial Plan.

The first presentation detailed a series of decisions released from a closed Council meeting in December 2025, when Council was presented with more than 35 options to reduce, modify, or eliminate items in the annual operating budget. The biggest decision from those discussions was to conservatively manage staffing vacancies and only fill critical positions in 2026. The cost savings from this decision are still unknown.

The second presentation outlined a few additional budgetary changes identified since the last Committee of the Whole meeting, which would further reduce the provisional tax rate. It also included public feedback on nine areas of potential cost savings collected both in person on January 20, 2026, and on the City's Let's Talk online engagement platform from January 20 to February 6, 2026. (Survey results can be found in the presentation PowerPoint here.)

The Committee of the Whole recommended deferring the planned RCMP staffing increase from 2026 to 2027, resulting in a 100% reduction in 2026 and $1,621,000 in savings from the original provisional budget. With the addition of this final recommendation, Administration will be bringing the Financial Plan Bylaw to Council with a 2026 provisional tax rate of 5.70%.

The Committee of the Whole further recommended moving forward with two supplemental items—an apprenticeship funding program and a new Kamloops Fire Rescue Station No. 6 in Dallas, a community experiencing increasing growth and emergency call volume. These items may have tax implications beginning in 2027. The Committee of the Whole did not recommend moving forward with a Protective Services training centre.