Council approves Fort St. John Relief Recovery and Resiliency plan

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The City’s Relief, Recovery and Resiliency Plan for the COVID-19 pandemic was, approved by Fort St. John City Council Monday.

Last week, Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman laid out the City’s plan to help residents during the pandemic. The City says the new changes passed Monday along with a change in garbage collection and elimination of utility fee increases will cost the City approximately $1.15 million.

At Council’s regular meeting, Monday, April 27, 2020, Council voted in favour of the recommendations too;

• eliminate the 2020 tax rate increase of 1.25%
• use the business license fee to fund the Mayor’s Recovery and Resiliency Committee and resulting action items
• provide relief on the recreation facility concession leases
• extend late payment penalties on residential property taxes to September 30, 2020

The equivalent cost of these options and the resulting deficit will be borrowed from the Growth Infrastructure Capital Reserve fund. Council will then replenish this fund over the next five years through a combination of fiscal year surpluses (if any), re-routing of industrial grant revenues received and modest tax rate increases.

The Mayor’s Standing Committee on Economic Recovery and Resiliency was created and includes Councillor Trevor Bolin and Councillor Becky Grimsrud on top of local community members that will be invited to join the committee.

According to Ackerman, thanks to the commitment of Council and City staff to ensuring the City’s financial sustainability over the past several years, the City can appropriately respond and support residents and businesses through the pandemic.

Watch the full Fort St. John City Council meeting below.