City Council debates the budget (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

2026 Taxes

Kamloops council looks toward transit, policing and Stuart Wood for cost savings in early budget deliberations

Nov 19, 2025 | 4:27 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops city councillors got their first look at the 2026 tax rate on Tuesday (Nov. 18) during a lengthy Committee of the Whole meeting. The starting point sits at more than a 10 per cent tax increase for homeowners across the city, with council searching for ways to lower that figure. No hard decisions were made on Tuesday, but council has instructed staff to return with options to get the rate down. However, staff have indicated there isn’t a lot of fat left to trim.

Financial Planning and Procurement Manager Dustin Rutsatz explained the reasoning for a 10.76 per cent proposed property tax increase Tuesday.

That figure is up from the rate of 6.72 per cent adopted in the five-year financial plan earlier this year. Some of the increases come down to new contracts, but also challenges with growth in the city.

“In the growth — we will get the final numbers in January — but as the 75 per cent numbers are showing us, about $750,000 (in revenue) versus about $1.7 million, so we are down about $1 million from what we were expecting in terms of growth,” said Rutsatz.

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Rutsatz called the budget document “not a pretty picture,” and council seemingly agreed, spending much of the afternoon discussing potential ways to have the tax rate lowered.

“It’s adapting to the new world that we have found ourselves in, into a weakening economy, into one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada,” said Councillor Mike O’Reilly. “These are the things we are having to be nimble on. In the sense of full on cancelling any of the things we’ve wanted to do, I’m not there, but more in a delay process.”

Councillor Katie Neustaeter, along with colleagues, also pointed to the Stuart Wood site, a provincially owned asset that the city pours money into every year.

“The city is supporting the cost month over month, over an asset that doesn’t belong to us and I don’t know if the community fully understands that at this point,” said Neustaeter. “I think we are looking for some hard numbers to come to us, but my understanding is we are supporting upwards of $600,000 a year.”

Council asked staff to look into potential cuts around transit and RCMP staffing for potential cost savings.

“I know what the community is expecting of us and my expectation is we hit that number between 6 and 7 per cent,” said Councillor Kelly Hall. “That means we are going to have to make a lot of difficult decisions.”

While much of council eyed a rate closer to 6 per cent and the mayor asked for 3 per cent, Stephen Karpuk highlighted the challenges ahead and warned of simply passing the buck to next year or draining city reserves.

“We are here for good governance. This is not about whether we get elected next time. This is about what we have to do to make sure the city functions going forward,” said Karpuk. “If we have to have a tax rate at 8.5 (per cent) to function, to maintain services, and we come up with some other cuts we can live with and explain to the public, I’m okay with that.”

City staff and council are holding an open house Wednesday evening (Nov. 19) from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in the Kia Lounge at the Sandman Centre for residents to learn more about the budget and ask questions.