2023 Budget

Hi Kathleen,

Thank you for taking the time to engage with the City on the 2023 draft budget. Your feedback is appreciated by staff and Council.

Our Development Cost Charges (DCCs) are currently low for the infrastructure projects that will be required for new development, therefore the need for a DCC bylaw update. Recently, master plans for transportation, water, and sewer that identify future required projects based on growth projections in the Official Community Plan (OCP) have been completed and will help inform the required DCC's for the bylaw update. Currently, non-profit housing receives a 50% DCC reduction. Generally, for market housing, municipalities cannot provide assistance through a reduction unless the developer was intending to build non-market housing that is considered affordable housing. The current OCP and zoning bylaw update will be looking at avenues to allow for greater density to help make development projects more economically viable and allow for additional supply of housing. 

Hi Joanne,

Currently childcare is under the scope of the Ministry of Education with the province. However, the City has funding mechanisms in place to assist children attending recreational and cultural summer camps. 

- Families who need financial assistance can apply to the Stoke Youth Network to help pay for recreational and cultural activities. The Stoke Youth Network fund is managed by the City.

- For any summer camps offered by the City, we will reserve spots in each camp for families who require financial assistance. In 2022 the City was able to subsidize 16 spots in our summer camps to reduce financial barriers and enable accessibility for all families to participate.

The City is committed to continuing to work with families in town to ensure equal opportunity of recreational/cultural services and summer camps for children by assisting with financial barriers.

Thank you for taking the time to engage with the City on the 2023 draft budget. Your feedback is appreciated and welcomed.

Thank you for taking the time to engage with the City of Revelstoke on our 2023 draft budget. Your feedback is welcomed and valued by staff and Council.

A large portion of Community Economic Developments expenditures are grant funded from various sources like Economic Opportunity Funds received from CSRD or Resort Municipality Initiatives received from the province. A portion of the grant transfers received as revenue is related to the Community Economic Development budget. For budgeting purposes, it is important to show both the revenue and expenditures for grant funded projects.

For simplicity purposes in the donut graph all transfers to reserves are lumped together to articulate how much the City is setting aside as savings each year for future capital projects. That is correct, only sewer users are paying for sewer operating expenses and improvements. This is the same for Water and Big Eddy Water users. Only the fees collected for these specific utilities are put aside for future spending for that utility. General taxation does not pay for utility operating or capital improvements. Please note the larger increase in sewer fees to pay for the upgrades required to the Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Hi Kathy,

Thank you for taking the time to engage with the City on the 2023 draft budget. Your feedback is appreciated and valued by staff and Council.

Development Approvals Process $403,372 - This project is predominately grant funded, however the City is providing matching funds of $75,000. This project includes a review of the City’s development approval procedures and recommendations for improvements.  This includes zoning amendments, servicing bylaw update, development finance workshop, GIS/Software improvements, development approvals / delegation bylaw, information materials. The benefits of the project include improving and streamline the development approvals process with the City. Applications are processed more quickly with clearer requirements / procedures for applicants to follow and for staff to administer. This is aligned with Council priority of organizational resilience as well as direction from the province regarding local planning approvals.  As part of the original grant submission, the City committed to matching funds for several of the elements of the project as well as internal staff time. Current staff have reviewed those original commitments and reduced where applicable and ensured that the City’s commitment to the grant is predominately in the form of in-kind time from internal staff resources.  

DCC Bylaw Update $150,000 - The DCC update is critical for ensuring that new development or growth pays for projects and infrastructure that are needed because of growth. The City's current DCC bylaw was last updated in 2008. The City has completed several master plans recently and the results of these plans show specific infrastructure that is attributable to growth and these growth-related projects need to be incorporated into a City DCC bylaw so that funds can be collected from developers. Drafting of a new DCC bylaw requires specific technical expertise so support from an external consultant with experience in this is required.

Zoning Bylaw Update $77,000 - This project is a comprehensive review of the zoning bylaw and includes repealing all existing zones and replacement with new, modern zones, review of parking / loading requirements, supplementary regulations, and definitions. Phase 1 initial bylaw cleanup was completed in Jan 2022 and this is the next phase of the project. In most municipalities, it is not typical for these types of technical comprehensive planning projects to be completed in-house. Staff have reviewed this budget and made adjustments to complete the majority of work in house to significantly reduce the overall cost to an estimated $77,000. This reduced budget will be used to support legal review, public engagement, as well as minor consultant support to ensure the City is following best practices.

Composting Project $3,111,530 - This project entails curbside pick-up of organic waste and includes special bins and trucks with arms which pick up by the waste bins. This project is currently grant dependent and to date no grant has been secured.

The graphs are meant to provide a big picture overview. Thank you for pointing out the rounding error.

Your engagement on the 2023 budget is appreciated and valued by staff and Council.  

The City of Revelstoke accommodators collect a hotel room tax of 3% from visitors based on the purchased price of accommodation with the funding going towards tourism marketing programs and projects. Our businesses do benefit from increased tourism and these businesses pay a large portion (approximately 39%) of the taxes collected by the City of Revelstoke. The City of Revelstoke is subject to inflationary pressures and aging infrastructure that needs to be replaced. These costs need to be balanced between present and future generations.

Your engagement in the City of Revelstoke's 2023 budget process is appreciated by staff and Council.

Thank you for the inquiry. The Director of Engineering has a report coming forward on the February 28th Council agenda on this topic. Details on public engagement are listed on the attachments of the report with property owner letters, website and social media posts coming out after Council consideration.