To the Editor,
Re: Richard Berg’s letter on property taxation in Penticton.
I had a look at statistics for municipal taxation (provided by the province). Penticton indeed appears to be doing a great job keeping tax increases low.
Their total municipal taxes collected increased by 1.6 percent from 2010 to 2013. Port Alberni’s increased by 4.6 percent. The Consumer Price Index for B.C. over the last three years has risen by 4.8 percent. So both Penticton and Port Alberni have had municipal taxation increases below the CPI over this period.
This is not true of very many municipalities in B.C.
Residential property tax increases in Port Alberni in recent years have not gone into significant spending increases, they have instead offset significant tax reductions that the city has provided to industry in our community in order to keep them viable.
With our recent residential tax increases in mind, I checked another statistic provided by the province, the “Taxes and Charges on a Representative House”. This is what the average house in a town pays on their tax bill annually.
For 2013 in Penticton it was $3104. In Port Alberni it was $2860.
Ken Watson,
City manager,
Port Alberni