New Westminster is on track to approving its 2025 budget in January – and is planning to get started on its 2026 budget early in the new year.
At a Nov. 25 workshop, council considered 2025 rates for the city’s utilities – water, sewer, electrical, and solid waste. Based on direction from council, staff will now prepare the necessary bylaws to amend the city’s utility rates for 2025. (More to come.)
A report on the 2025 budget states that staff will bring the utility rates bylaws to council for three readings at its Dec. 2 meeting. At the same meeting, staff will outline the components of the 2025 to 2029 capital fund and funding strategy.
The following week, at a Dec. 9 meeting, council will receive a refined 2025 general fund operating budget and capital budget, and a five-year capital plan. On Dec. 16, council will adopt the 2025 utility rate bylaws.
Shehzad Somji, the city’s chief financial officer, said the timeline envisions adoption of the city’s 2025 financial plan in January.
“That's a bit of an earlier timeline than previous years,” he said. “But it'll definitely help back with starting to implement projects right from the get-go in 2025 when we're back from the holidays.”
After months of workshops and deliberations, city council gave three readings to the 2024 to 2028 five-year financial plan bylaw on Feb. 26 and adopted the budget in March. It reflects a property tax increase of 7.7 per cent in 2024.
Along with a lengthy discussion about the city’s utility rates, Monday’s workshop also included updates from departments on their accomplishments in 2024 and priorities for 2025.
At Monday’s workshop, Somji also noted that staff expect to begin working on the 2026 budget earlier than in the past – with work expected to begin late in the first quarter of the year.
While the city is required to develop five-year financial plans, Somji said the city is considering an even longer-term financial strategy that could include development of 10-year (or longer) funding strategies.
