By Spencer Sterritt

2.08% tax increase made official as Nanaimo councillors finally approve budget

May 9, 2018 | 5:45 PM

NANAIMO — It’s been a long, winding road but Nanaimo councillors approved the 2018 budget and a 2.08 per cent property tax increase.

They met Wednesday afternoon for a special meeting to get the budget adopted, just days before the provincially-mandated deadline of May 15.

A provisional budget was first approved in late 2017, with the tax increase rising to 3.18 per cent when it came back before councillors in April. It was ready for final approval on April 11, but less than two weeks later, councillors sprung a request to bring the property tax increase down to two per cent on staff.

It forced finance staff to use their 2017 surplus to offset the increase, a move which was specifically not recommended by City employees.

Three positions were also cut, including a director of communications role which was removed and then added back to the budget before finally being removed again.

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Including user fees and additional taxes from other organizations, the average Nanaimo home of $464,000 is expected to pay $233 more in tax.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit