5% 'Allowance for Inflation' in Rossland Tax Increase is more than double last year's average inflation rate

Submitted by dallaslama on Tue, 08/04/2025 - 11:14am

I hope I'm wrong but what I'm seeing is:

"Under the proposed plan, five per cent of the increase each year would go toward offsetting inflation" (Mar 27, 2025, Rossland News, Rossland drafts financial plan with 10 per cent tax hike)

This is concerning given the actual rate of inflation in March was only 2.3%, Feb. 2.6 and 1.9 in January. That is an average Q1 2025 inflation rate of 2.3. Meanwhile, the average inflation rate for ALL of 2024 was 2.4%. Why is the City of Rossland proposing a 5% allowance for inflation which is more than double the average rate for the past 15 months? That is extravagant. Plus, "The Bank of Canada aims to keep inflation at the 2 per cent midpoint of an inflation-control target range of 1 to 3 per cent.". 

I'm not sure when the plan was developed but the inflation rate in Canada has not been 5% since 2023 and that was an anomaly in a year where the average rate was 3.9%.

If the one metric that can be correlated to a key economic indicator (that is tracked, calculated and published by the federal Government) is inflated 100% what does that mean for the rest of the plan? Unfortunately, this reflects extremely badly on the credibility of the total plan, and the checks and balances that should have occurred before it was presented to the alarm of taxpayers. 

This is a quick and necessary fix. Drop the arbitrary 5% rate to the previous year's average (2.4%) knocking 2.6% off the proposed tax increase, and going forward use past annual averages to forecast the future rather than randomly selecting a wildly inflated number that shockingly makes it into the final plan. On this point, I would like to see much more scrutiny of such a serious and widely impacting plan. Large, consecutive tax increases are a credible threat to the diversity of this community and the people who have invested their lives into living here. 

In closing, previous years' averages are much more reliable - and more widely accepted - predictors of the future. The published BOC monetary policy with respect of inflation is also a good reference. 

Inflation stats: https://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/canada-inflation-rate/

Bank of Canada quote: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/core-functions/monetary-policy/inflation/

Town: Rossland, BC
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Submitted by dallaslama on Mon, 14/04/2025 - 7:38am.

Bump. I'm surprised at the lack of interaction with this information. Ya or nay?

 

Submitted by Michelle Laurie on Mon, 21/04/2025 - 5:28pm.

I have similar questions. Accounting for inflation is reasonable however forecasting 5% in 2025 and the following four years, in a financial plan, needs further explanation. I have not seen an explanation yet but am curious. I would also like to see where the City can reduce expenses given the infrastructure funding needs expressed in their communications to date. 

Submitted by km on Tue, 22/04/2025 - 8:57am.

There are some areas of City spending that (imo) could be saved, e.g. taking down mature trees that provided shade in order to build a manmade structure. From the Rossland Telegraph dated June 5, 2023:

A motion to award the contract to complete the Rossglen Park Improvements project to North Mountain Construction Ltd. In the amount of $195,330.00 (exclusive of GST)  CARRIED;  a further motion to reallocate funding to increase the overall project budget by $55,950 to cover other project costs including design, architecture, and engineering, estimated at $44,000.00, and to allow for a 15% project contingency at $35,900, also CARRIED unanimously.  Spooner expressed relief that the increase wasn’t higher; Humpherys agreed, as costs in general seem to be rising quickly.

Submitted by Cleverpanda on Tue, 22/04/2025 - 9:32am.

Did the Rossglen project over run by another $120,000 as mentioned in a council meeting 1 year ago?

Seems pointless to cut down 2 mature trees to replace them with an iron man made structure that will require ongoing manitenance.

Submitted by Cleverpanda on Tue, 22/04/2025 - 9:33am.

If I am wrong maybe a councilor can jump in here.

Submitted by -Dani- on Tue, 22/04/2025 - 1:03pm.

The is a council meeting this evening. 
https://rossland.ca/council-old/meetings/

Submitted by dmcmcc on Tue, 22/04/2025 - 3:22pm.

Cleverpanda - thank you for bringing this up.

Everyone should be paying attention to the Rossglen Park project.

This park, one of only a few green spaces in town, has been effectively destroyed.

A new concrete structure has taken precedence over everything this beautiful space has meant to our community.

What was once a beautiful, lush, green space our community enjoyed daily with kids playing, gatherings happening...has become a spot that almost no one uses.

This "concrete gazebo" when it is done, will have taken the *same amount of time to build* as the entire new city hall building and apartment complex - two years!!

 

Two years this space that used to host families and friends and kids playing has been lost to construction and irresponsible project management.

Trees were cut unnecessarily.

Half of the park atleast has been fenced with a shabby metallic orange fence and lost to gravel and excavation and construction for 20+ months.

 

It's an absolute disgusting disgrace what has happened to this park.

And nobody seems to even be aware??

Submitted by Cleverpanda on Wed, 23/04/2025 - 6:32am.

Does any one have an update on last nights meeting? I could not attend as i have a flu bug

Submitted by travis on Wed, 23/04/2025 - 7:03am.

I'd like to see detailed cost updates on Rossglen as well. Work stalled after they initially started excavating and there is a lot of debris in the ground there. The final excavation was very deep and the underground concrete work is pretty substantial. I wonder if they considered scrapping the job at that point if costs were going to start getting out of hand. Unless the province paid for it.

 

Took a few photos of progress over the past few months as well. 

Submitted by dmcmcc on Wed, 23/04/2025 - 8:02am.

The city has stated in emails that the budget for the project hasn't changed despite the extensive delays. They said the project had a set budget as per the agreement with the contractor, and it's the contractor losing money not them.

But they also said that the community *wanted* this concrete gazebo, that the community voted for it in community engagement. I don't know a single resident who voted for this project, and certainly none of the people who look at this mess daily from their windows or walking past voted for it.

I am honestly most appalled at the lack of care extended to this space that was cherished by our community prior to the unnecessary removal of the mature trees. Also, it's worth noting that the arborist who said the trees should be removed was also the arborist who got the contract from the city to remove them. At the time of removal residents raised such a stink that they only removed two of the three trees they had planned to removed.

 

I wish I could post a before picture here. I was lucky enough to get a perfect shot on a clear sunny day right before they started removing these trees. The photo captures perfectly the beauty this park once offered our community. Now it's been a rarely used construction site for two years.

 

Submitted by dmcmcc on Wed, 23/04/2025 - 8:24am.

I have put in an email request with the city for budget information on this project. It seems that all project information has been removed from the city website - that I can tell. I could be missing it.

 

 

Submitted by Cleverpanda on Wed, 23/04/2025 - 9:03am.

I remember that around 6 months after the projetc broke ground, the cuty council had a meeting and they mentioned that costs had risen by $120k and so needed to increase the budget for the project.

Seriously... the original budget with the extra design costs came to around a quarter of a million dollars for a sun shade.

Being that they want to increase our taxes by 10% annually and then spend that amount on a vanity project seems totally insane. We live on a street that has had a pot hole that is increasing every day and now so bad you have to drive around for 5 years and even though we have asked several times for a repair they simple say it is not in the budget.

Were is the accountability with this city and the councilors? I was never asked about the Rossglen park, if any one was asked I would like to know and how it was done.

This council is out of control being that you can attend a meetting and speak for 2 minutes but they do not respond even with a written answer. 

Submitted by dmcmcc on Wed, 23/04/2025 - 9:07am.

Cleverpanda - my household agrees with you fully. We are actually stupified that this project was approved, has cost so much, has taken two years to build a gazebo, etc etc. I'm going to make a new post because I have a before and after (current) photo to share.

This post here was originally about something different, and although I do think it is all related around city budget and inappropriate tax increases, I don't want the original poster to think this thread has been hijacked :)

Submitted by Cleverpanda on Wed, 23/04/2025 - 9:12am.

Agree :)

Submitted by CTrautman on Thu, 24/04/2025 - 9:58am.

Just a comment on the original topic of this posting...

According to page 4 of the financial plan, the half of the 10% tax increase is for infrastructure, while the other 5% is for "inflation and service improvements", with "service improvements" meaning new spending. This new spending and the inflation allowances are detailed on pages 61-68 of the plan.

If you are concerned with the city's financial direction, please provide feedback to the city as per under the "How to provide your input" section of https://rossland.ca/buzz_items/draftfinancialplan/