City of Duncan Budget Open House – 11 March 2019, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

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The City of Duncan is holding an Open House at Duncan City Hall on 11 March 2019 between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to discuss the proposed 2019 Budget. Here is a list of City of Duncan Budget Events.

We encourage all Duncan Taxpayers to attend.

One of the things to be discussed at this Open House is the City of Duncan’s latest Five Year Financial Plan. The City of Duncan is required to compile a new Five Year Financial Plan every year. But I cannot find a current Five Year Financial Plan for 2018 or 2019 on the City of Duncan website.

The City of Duncan has also put up a page on PlaceSpeak.com for people wanting to comment on the 2019 City of Duncan Budget.

For those who have never used PlaceSpeak.com, here is a video on how to register:


Here is a City of Duncan web page on the Proposed 2019 Budget.  This page can be difficult to find on the City of Duncan website. I had to do a Search to find it.

Here are some other links which can also be difficult to find on the City of Duncan website:

Here is what the City of Duncan website says about planned tax increases for 2019:

“What is the proposed tax increase for 2019?

City Council is currently considering a tax increase of 3.07%.

Inflation will usually require approximately 2% increase [note: the 1 year Consumer Price Index inflation figure, as of December 2018, was 2.0%], just to keep paying the expenses the City must pay for general maintenance budgets. A significant amount of asset management planning goes into the maintenance of City infrastructure. If taxes are not increased each year to account for inflation, the result would have to be a reduction in maintenance budgets or a deferral of major capital works. This could result in the failure of an asset (equipment or municipal building) which then would require a higher future tax to pay for emergency repairs or replacement. Eventually the deferred major capital works must also be done, which would again result in a higher future tax hike to do the works that should have already been done.

The City of Duncan collects approximately 4.3 million in property taxes and Police Bridging Capital levy. A 3.07% increase provides an additional $132,000 to help pay for inflation and increased services.”

(Source: City of Duncan website)

One thing I noted is that the City of Duncan is holding its Open House on 11 March 2019 but it plans to present its Budget findings to a Committee of the Whole Meeting on 4 March 2019 [note: one page on the City of Duncan website says it’s a Committee of the Whole meeting on 4 March, another says it’s a Regular Council Meeting on 4 March. We’ll assume it is a Regular Council Meeting]. Apparently there was another Open House on 14 January 2019 (I don’t recall hearing about it) and the results of the 14 January 2019 Open House will be presented to the Regular Council Meeting on 4 March 2019.

We can’t help wondering how the City of Duncan plans to incorporate the results of the 11 March 2019 Open House into the Regular Council Meeting Agenda of 4 March 2019.

Duncan City Hall entrance
Duncan City Hall entrance