City council confirmed its plans for a 1.7 per cent property tax increase, a four per cent hike in water and sewer rates and a 6.8 per cent jump to waste collection fees in adopting the 2016 operating budget Tuesday evening

That’s in addition to other increases to a variety of user fees and services.

The $70.6-million spending plan enables officials to continue running the city – plowing roads, collecting garbage, keeping the water running and so on.

Tuesday’s vote means the average Whitehorse home owner will pay $2,304 in property taxes this year compared to the $2,265 they paid last year.

The increase to water and sewer bills will mean nearly $3 more in the monthly rate, which goes from $73.02 to $75.94.

The increase to standard residential waste collection will mean a 70-cent boost in the monthly rate, from $10.30 to $11.

Coun. Rob Fendrick was absent from last night’s meeting.

The six council members present were unanimous in their decision to go ahead with the budget. However, they also voiced their thoughts on the documents and what might come in future years.

Coun. Betty Irwin said council and administration had to make hard decisions to keep the tax hike as low as possible.

She stated the three objectives she believes council should always be working toward:

• shaping the city;

• delivering quality public services at affordable prices; and

• making the financial decisions that accomplish those.

This budget, Irwin said, accomplishes that.

Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu was also quick to defend the operating budget.

While taxes have gone up, she pointed out, the city has continued to roll back the mill rate, part of the equation which factors in property assessments done by the Yukon government.

The city has been working to keep taxes at a reasonable level for a number of years, she said.

Meanwhile, voting in favour of the budget was more of a “struggle” for Coun. Dan Boyd. He vowed to continue working toward getting the tax rate down in future years.

Most homeowners measure increases by their annual tax bill, which continues to go up, Boyd noted.

He acknowledged the efforts that went into keeping the tax boost to 1.7 per cent.

“We did work extremely hard on this,” he said.

It’s unfortunate the public doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to participate in the drafting of the spending plan, Boyd added.

Coun. Samson Hartland questioned staff on the amount projected to go to reserves (confirming that more than $9 million is anticipated to be put into reserves from the 2015 fiscal year, with $10 million-plus projected for each of the next three years).

Hartland too noted there were some difficult decisions made in drafting the operating plan. He said he would support the budget “with somewhat of a heavy conscience.”

Also expressing worries was Coun. Roslyn Woodcock. She cited “dire concerns” over the plan to pull $320,000 out of reserves to fund water and sewer systems operations.

The city opted to make the unusual move of using reserve funding (normally saved for urgent repairs needed to the system) for the water and sewer operations so the hike to bills would be more manageable for ratepayers.

“Pulling from reserves is not a sustainable solution,” Woodcock said, going on to make the same point on the issue of rolling back the mill rate.

She did concede there were some hard decisions in coming up with the budget. For that reason, Woodcock said, she would support the plan.

Finally, Mayor Dan Curtis added his voice to the chorus supporting the budget.

While taxpayers will see an increase on their bill, he argued, Whitehorse continues to boast low tax rates, considering there are more than 700 kilometres of road, infrastructure and so on the city has to maintain.

“It’s incredibly low,” Curtis said, pointing out that rising taxes are a reality for a growing city.

Before joining the rest of council in voting in favour of the budget, the mayor added he’s proud of the work his fellow council members and city staff put into coming up with the 2016 operating budget.

Not included in the budget is the proposed curbside recycling program.

Council has yet to approve the service that would be mandatory for those on the city’s waste collection schedule.

It was estimated in a past study that the recycling program alone would cost ratepayers $15 per month.

The city’s 2016 capital budget, passed earlier this year, will also see the city spend another $16 million-plus on a number of projects over the coming year.