2021 municipal budget moves closer to adoption

The adoption 2021 municipal budget is fast approaching, as City staff are proposing to have final reading on the bylaw at the May 11 council meeting.

On Tuesday night, Merritt City Council once again reviewed the document following a presentation from Finance Director Wayne Anderson, highlighting some of the changes since January.

On the capital project side, just one project has been removed from the plan, downtown washrooms. The project was removed after the city was unsuccessful in securing grant funding to offset the cost.

CAO Sean Smith addressed the 2021 budget saying the City is still working towards being less reliant on surpluses.

“I very much see this as a transitory budget year. We’ve shifted to a new model with our reserve accounts,” said Smith. “I don’t want to make sure Council understands the fact that as it stands, we are at a kind of unique inflection point in Merritt’s history. We are seeing growth; we’re seeing additional demand on just about every point. I want to make sure that Council understands we’re operating too far out of surpluses right now.”

City Council is working under a proposed mill rate decrease of 5.3%, however, due to property assessments increasing across the city, many Merrittonains will see a tax increase.