Municipal mill rate to be adopted tonight

The City of Merritt’s five-year financial plan, and municipal mill rate are set to be adopted this evening at the regular city council meeting.

City Council has been 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.

Individual tax increases or decreases will be based off individual property assessments. Those looking to get an idea of their 2021 taxes can use a free calculator on the City’s website (https://merritt.solutionmunicipal.ca/taxes/2021.php).

When Council approved the first three readings of the five-year plan, Mayor Linda Brown was happy to see the budget growing from her early days at the table.

“When I first became a Councillor our budgets were 10 million, 11 million, 12 million, this year it’s $26 million. We’ve more than doubled our budget over the last few years and that tells me staff is working to get projects done for the community,” said Brown.

Tonight’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 pm, and can be viewed online.