By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle

Oliver is set to officially adopt its 2025 financial plan which comes in at $17.84 million. 

After four months of crunching numbers, debating priorities, and gathering feedback from the public, Oliver town council approved first, second and third reading of the plan on March 31 and is set for adoption on April 22, 2024.  

The total $17.84 million budget breaks down into:

  • Water operating – $3.79 million;
  • Water capital – $1.29 million;
  • Sewer operating – $1.25 million;
  • Sewer capital – $0.90 million;
  • General operating – $8.46 million;
  • General capital – $2.16 million.

There were some late additions that were brought in later in the budgeting process. There were two additions to capital projects. 

A new drinking fountain was added at a cost of $10,000 for a new irrigation kiosk at the cemetery. This will be similar to the one at Triangle Park. 

The town also removed an item for the fire department that saw $13,000 carried forward from 2024 from active transportation amenities because the project has been completed.  

There were three late amendments to the operating expenditures. These include smaller items such as the solid waste administration fee, which was moved from other revenue to administration. Utility costs were reduced for town rental properties, and there was also a transfer to the policing reserve for 50 per cent of non-market change (NMC). 

The budget increased five per cent overall from 2024. There was a four per cent increase for water, and a three per cent increase to sewer. 

An important part of this budget cycle was council’s reaffirmation to follow the tax multipliers a little closer after their decision to break with tradition on tax rate multipliers and reduce the tax burden on businesses for 2025.  

For at least 25 years, the tax multiplier for business and light industry in Oliver have been in “lockstep”.

This means that whenever the multipliers changed, they were always coupled to change by the same number despite them being two different tax classes.

The town decided to change the traditional way of dividing these, resulting in residential taxes increasing more, from $42 to $58, the light industry taxes increased only $287 instead of $1,275, and business taxes increased $161 instead of $242.

These numbers are the result of setting the business multiplier at 2.0640 and the light industry at 1.7610, resulting in an increase of 5 per cent each, instead of light industry getting hit with a 23 per cent increase which was part of the initial plan.  

Oliver provided a month of public feedback on the budget this year, including a coffee with council on March 4, 2024. Two community members attended the latter event.  

Three emails were received from members of the public, which John Kurvink, chief financial officer noted was “better than last year”.  

The first took issue with lowering the business tax multiplier when businesses can write off 100 per cent of their taxes against income and residents cannot. The same community member also noted that the town may have too many staff for its population and this should be reviewed. 

The second correspondent wanted to see housing built for physicians and healthcare workers in Oliver. They noted that the lot by the post office would be ideal for this type of housing. They mentioned this while commenting on the sign that indicates it’s been “coming soon” for many years.  

The last comments were focused on the town sticking to absolute necessities, prioritizing infrastructure updates where they are most needed and improving safety in the town. One example provided was installing a flashing crosswalk to the skateboard park on Highway 97. 

A brief timeline of council’s decisions on the 2025-2029 financial plan are as follows: 

  • On November 17, 2024 Council received the first draft of the 2025-2029 Capital Plan as it related to water and sewer infrastructure.
  • On January 6, 2025 Council received the draft 2025-2029 Consolidated Capital Plan.
  • On January 27, 2025 Council received the draft 2025-2029 Operating and Capital Plan.
  • On March 10, 2025 Council reviewed a number of tax rate scenarios related to the 2025-2029 Financial Plan and determined the tax rate multipliers to be applied to business and light industry assessment classes.