Oak Bay residents will face an 11.4 per cent tax increase this year.
At a council meeting on Monday, April 14, the district approved its 2025-2029 financial plan, which outlines how Oak Bay will spend its money to provide services and meet its short- and long-term goals.
While the plan originally proposed a 13.3 per cent tax hike, council voted at a meeting last month to pare back the increase by 1.9 per cent.
It did so, in part, by cutting fire services staffing capacity funding in half, or by $123,750, according to Oak Bay's director of financial services and asset management Rianna Lachance, who added that a $38,700 cut in the district's deer management budget also helped bring down the rate.
Oak Bay also pared back the rate by approving the use of $162,000 of its surplus funds to cover select one-time expenses, instead of taxation revenue.
Contract and agreement obligations account for the largest portion of the increase, at 6.1 per cent or $2.19 million.
“This includes wages and benefits, as well as inflation adjustments in existing vendor contracts,” Mayor Kevin Murdoch told the Oak Bay News in March, adding that the whole region is seeing considerable tax increases this year. “These costs reflect the need to fulfill contractual obligations and account for rising expenses tied to inflation.”
Asset management accounts for a two per cent or a $720,000 jump.
“Oak Bay council recognized the need for substantial annual investment in asset replacement in 2018,” Murdoch said in March. “Since 2019, council has committed to increasing the annual budget committed to asset replacement by two to 2.5 per cent each year.”
The Oak Bay Police Department saw a 1.2 per cent or $420,664 bump in funding, which will help offset inflationary pressures, according to the plan.
“The police budget is quite complicated this year. Much of the inflationary costing is coming from external agencies, such as integrated units and E-Comm,” Murdoch said. “There is also a change of structure, including a new position, allowing the formation of a new platoon model. This will result in better response availability, less overtime and more opportunity for proactive policing in areas like traffic enforcement and youth programs.”
Oak Bay has yet to release the finalized budget, but hopes to do so in the next two weeks.
