Peachland taxes expected to rise

PEACHLAND – If you live in Peachland, you’ll likely be paying higher taxes this year. The district believes it will have to raise taxes as it struggles to cover the costs of policing and maintaining the current infrastructure.

“We need policing and we have to have policing so I think the residents have to be on notice that we are going to look into how much taxes are going to have to go up,” says mayor Cindy Fortin.

After the 2011 census showed Peachland’s population had climbed above 5,000, the district had to start paying for the majority of its own policing costs. It’s been dipping into a reserve fund to help pay for policing but now that money is running out. That’s left Peachland struggling to decide how it will cover RCMP costs this year.

The district says it also needs to save money for what it calls asset renewal. That covers things like maintenance of existing infrastructure.

Despite the cost, the mayor seems pleased with services Peachland gets from the RCMP.

“They really do a good job. It is just I wish that we didn’t have to pay so much for it. I wish the higher levels of government would chip in more to help small communities pay for their policing,” says Fortin.

The district only has to pay the majority of its policing costs if it has a population over 5,000. There are some indications the population has dropped since the 2011 census which counted 5,200 residents in Peachland. Data recently released by B.C. Stats shows Peachland’s population dropped between 2014 and 2015 to 5,013.

Peachland expects to get new federal census results next year. The numbers that census counts will determine whether Peachland will have to continue to shoulder a substantial portion of its policing costs in the years ahead.