Nanaimo Council has cleared one of the few remaining hurdles to passing a budget for this year.
Councillors voted 6-3 Monday to give third reading to a spending plan that includes a 2.5 per cent residential property tax increase.
Director of Finance Brian Clemens says they did a detailed service level review for every function of the city to come up with this year’s budget.
Clemens says this year’s capital plan includes a higher number of new projects.
Councillors Jim Kipp, Bill Bestwick and Bill McKay voted against the budget — they’ve consistently argued through the budget debates that not enough has been done to get spending down.
The budget comes up for final adoption on May 12.
Council also gave three readings last night to the bylaws for a 2 per cent hotel room tax. The Nanaimo Hospitality Association and the City announced last week that they had the necessary support from the accommodation sector. The tax will still need one more vote at Council, and approval from the province.
