The Township of Esquimalt is looking at a 9.9 per cent tax increase, down from the first presented draft increase of just over 14 per cent.
On Monday, April 14, council members were unanimously in favour of moving forward following a final property tax presentation from staff, which includes an additional $3.6 million in revenue for the township, mainly stemming from costs around police and staff wages and benefits.
If the final draft is passed, the average residential property could see a tax increase of $328, while businesses would see an average increase of $1,351.
Mayor Barb Desjardins acknowledged the increase will especially affect small businesses, and she, along with other council members, toyed with the idea of changing how other property classes would be taxed. But that will likely wait until next year as it is too late to make such sweeping changes to the property tax system for this year's budget.
"We have all this learning from this year, and we know that next year is going to be equally as challenging," she said.
Over the past few months, township staff did manage to shave millions from the original proposed 14.09 per cent increase by making cuts to some positions and cutting the infrastructure funding increase in half, from 3 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
The final 2025-2026 financial plan will be presented and voted on at a later meeting.
