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Protective services makes up bulk of District of Hope’s annual expenses

Cost of fire, police and other services close to $3.2 million in Hope.
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Photo courtesy of www.SeniorLiving.Org.

The District of Hope’s Financial Plan for the five years ahead is now available on their website.

A meeting held on May 5 shined a light on the municipality’s overall finances and what that means to taxpayers. For example, the average single-family residential assessment in Hope for 2021 is $430,600, an increase of $20,200 over last year.

Dale Courtice, the district’s director of finance, presented the plan, which is an annual requirement of all municipalities.

Additional general municipal tax revenue generated in the 2021 budget over that of 2020 is $226,500, or which equates to a 2.5% property tax revenue increase, Courtice noted. Part of this total is attributed to new construction.

Total taxes in 2021, including collections on behalf of other governments and agencies, using the 2021 average single-family dwelling assessment of $430,600 amounted to $2,900.74. The difference between 2020 and 2021 based on that average assessment is an increase of $20.46 over last year.

Some of the highlights from this year’s budget, as pointed out by the district, are the Richmond Hill Multi-Use Pathway project for the construction of the pathway link between downtown and Silver Creek; Othello Road upgrades; and Pollution Control Centre outfall extension and headworks screening (grant dependent)

All three projects are grant dependent and the district is waiting for word on all of them.

They will collect $8,733,100 in property taxes this year, which is about half of the cost of expenditures ($15,287,200) for the district.

The largest line item in the budget is for “protective services” at $3,193,400. General government is tagged at $2,260,400.

Taxes aren’t the only revenue source for municipalities. Hope will also bring in $3,205,400 for sales of goods and services, and nearly $5 million from other levels of governments.

This year’s budget includes a surplus of $3,690,500.

To see the full presentation visit the District of Hope YouTube channel. To read the financial plan, visit the document section of the District of Hope website.

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Jessica Peters

About the Author: Jessica Peters

I began my career in 1999, covering communities across the Fraser Valley ever since.
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