The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) Board of Directors has completed its first review of the draft 2025-2029 Financial Plan, which will soon be open for public review and comment.

The Board held a special budget meeting on Wednesday and continued to refine the draft budget during its regular Board Meeting today. All of the requested changes are now being incorporated, and the draft plan will be available for the public’s review and comment on February 19. “The budget process takes six months to gather the information and pull together the Draft Plan; however, a critical piece of the budget process still lies ahead: gathering public feedback on the draft plan,” explains Gay. “Ensuring taxpayers have an opportunity to review the financial plan, feel informed about the projects, services and potential impact on property taxes before the Plan is adopted is critical. The draft plan will be available for several weeks and we encourage residents to take the time to review it and to provide their comments.”

The Financial Plan lays out how tax dollars are being spent on the more than 100 services offered in the RDEK. The Plan includes $11,972,782 in capital projects for 2025 for projects such as the final completion of the Cold Spring Creek Debris Flow Mitigation Project, Fernie Pathway, Jaffray Trail, Edgewater Connectivity Project, Fire Engine Replacements in Panorama, Hosmer and Baynes Lake, Wycliffe Park Campground, Hosmer Fire Hall, and Elko Fire Hall Expansion.

The draft 2025 operating budget for shared services is $29,505,225 and proposes an increase of $22 over last year on the average residential property valued at $596,000. In the RDEK model, municipalities and electoral areas are all affected differently depending on which RDEK services they receive and RDEK taxes are captured only on the RDEK line items on tax notices, not the overall tax bill.

Copies of the plan and comment forms are available on engage.rdek.bc.ca/budget and by request through the RDEK’s Cranbrook and Columbia Valley offices. The RDEK will be posting a budget “snapshot” by Wednesday evening that provides a condensed overview and some of the highlights for 2025.

The public comment period will be open Wednesday, February 19 until Noon on Monday, March 10, 2025.

The 5-Year Financial Plan will be reviewed by the RDEK Board at the Committee Meetings on March 13 and is expected to be adopted at the March 14 Board Meeting.

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