Budget 2022 Glossary of Terms

Amount Funded by Property Tax

Property taxes fund approximately one half of the budget (including capital). Other sources of revenue include grants, fees for service (such as recreation fees), bylaw fines, Utility fees and investment revenue.

Capital Project

A project that creates, repairs or improves District assets such as roads, reservoirs, dikes, facilities, equipment and vehicles. The cost of these projects is often spread over multiple years.

Development Cost Charges (DCC)

Monies collected from land developers to offset some of the infrastructure expenses incurred to service the needs of new development. DCCs provide funds to assist the District to pay the capital costs of sewage, water, drainage and road facilities, and park land to service, directly or indirectly, the development for which the charge is being imposed.

Funding Sources

Funding sources can include: property taxation, grants, reserves, development cost charges (DCCs) or borrowing.

Master Plan Projects

Projects that stem from Master Plan recommendations. The District has invested heavily to develop Master Plans to guide its work over the coming decades. The result is a strategic approach that maximizes budgets and resources, determines acceptable levels of services and establishes priorities to meet the infrastructure needs of our community today and tomorrow.

Municipal Service Projects

Projects that support the delivery of District services. Visit our website for an A to Z list of Municipal Services.

Service Level Changes

Service Level Changes may represent a new or enhanced municipal service, or may represent a decrease or elimination of a municipal service. They impact future years of the financial plan in that these are not “one-time” costs (increased or decreased).

Special Projects

One-time initiatives that have a beginning and an end date. They may be capital or operational in nature.

Special Project Envelope or Capital Project Envelope

The annual amount of tax dollars set aside to fund special operating or capital projects. This base is imbedded in the existing tax levy funding, so only changes to the total amount will impact tax increases or decreases in subsequent years. The 2020 special project envelope was $2.4M before Council voted to reduce it to $1.8M to lower taxes in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Council intends to increase the amount incrementally back toward the pre-COVID level starting in 2022.

Strategic Plan Projects

Projects that support the delivery of Council’s 2019 to 2022 Strategic Plan.