The District of Kitimat's budget process runs through the fall and winter, and it's a long process to figure out how the District will allocate funds.

The final budget is adopted around May of each year, and there are key steps along the way.

Here's the process Kitimat typically follows when it comes to working out its budget:

Community Grants

The District of Kitimat supports several community organizations by way of annual grants.

Council usually refers these grants to the 2025 budget but considers approving these early in the budget process.

These presentations were held on November 12, 2024. You can can find the presentations as part of that meeting's agenda, at www.kitimat.ca/agendas.

Early Capital Approval

Through the budget process there are also requests for early approval of capital projects from departments in the District of Kitimat. Because the final budget isn't approved until later in the year, we often request Council consider early approval of capital projects from the departments in the District of Kitimat. This allows us to secure the materials and services needed to complete the projects.

Finishing the budget

The budget is eventually finalized by the adoption of a new Five-Year Financial Plan, Tax Rates Bylaw, and the year's Residential Flat Tax Amendment Bylaw.

All this discussion takes place at public Council meetings.

Information about our budget is online at www.kitimat.ca/budget.

The majority of the District’s revenue is from property owners through property taxes.

We collect taxes from six classes of properties.

The below chart shows what percentage each class of property pays as their portion of our property tax revenues, as of 2024:

Just to wrap up this topic, here's a few other things to know about your annual property tax bill:

• Municipal water and solid waste collection are each also a separately listed, fixed cost on your property tax bill.
• Kitimat collects taxes on behalf of other taxing authorities. That means the total on your bill also includes the regional district, school district, and North West Hospital District, among a few others.

Assessed values are an important piece of your annual property taxes, but it’s not exactly a straight line between the change in your assessment and the cost on a property tax bill.

Kitimat's property taxes are a mix of a mill rate (also called a variable), which means a certain amount that is charged per $1,000 of assessed value of your home, and a flat tax.

As Council determines each year what overall tax increase is necessary for municipal operations, a tax rate is set to collect that amount. Your property's assessed value determines what you pay based on that tax rate.

Here is how the municipal taxes looked on a typical assessed value home in Kitimat in 2023 and 2024: (Typical assessed value as stated by BC Assessment.)

On that typical assessed home, that worked out to a $57.41 increase using the change in 2024 tax rates. You can see then how different assessed values can affect property taxes.

In January, BC Assessment released their new assessments. In Kitimat, on average, we saw a less than one per cent shift in property assessed values. The 2025 typical assessed value of a home was $345,000, a change from $344,000 in 2024.

On a few different occasions, we compiled the responses shared from our 2024 Get Involved Kitimat page and provided that to Council directly.

As well, projects conducted throughout the year also touched on areas that are important to you.

Here is a quick look at some recent projects and how they matched what you told us:

1. We have new walkways. One, an extension of the walkway along Nalabila Boulevard to Haisla Bouelvard, connecting to a new commercial development. Another, an extension and improvement of the walkway along Haisla Boulevard, starting from Kingfisher.
2. Council has adopted the Kitimat Healthcare Professionals Attraction and Retention Strategy, including the hiring of a healthcare attraction coordinator. Council has also committed to significant funding for a local CT Scanner, one of the key recommendations of that report.
3. Kitimat currently has a full budgeted roster of 32 firefighter / paramedics, and we are always recruiting to be at a maximum complement. And, while these positions do of course require certification as a paramedic and firefighter, new hiring requirements relax some of the initial hiring requirements. Namely, you can begin at Kitimat Fire & Ambulance with the Primary Care Paramedic certification with the ability to obtain the NFPA 1001 Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualification Level I and II.
4. Nechako Centre has an approved budget for demolition, work which has carried over into early 2025. Also, there is a call for proposals to move the Nechako Centre Concept Plan to reality. You can learn more about Nechako Centre here: Nechako Centre.
5. For reaching out in the non-digital realms, you can find us in-person at the Riverlodge craft fairs. We get a table there at each event. There are in-person engagements throughout the year on different topics. Recently we have held drop-in sessions about the Complete Communities Study & Housing Focused OCP Update. Of course, our door is always open at our municipal office at 270 City Centre, third floor of City Centre Mall and we are always considering other ways to reach out beyond the screen.