The City of Corner Brook is keeping the mil rate stable for the 2025 fiscal year, while running a balanced budget of $41.9M. This budget represents a 6.9% increase from last year, with 4.5% of that increase resulting from investment in the new regional recreation and aquatics centre, and other recreational programming.
Highlights of this year’s budget include:
– No change to residential or commercial property tax rates
– $20 increase in annual residential unit charge
– $30 increase in annual commercial unit charge
– No change to most business tax categories
Unit Charge For Water:
We are able to provide top-quality, safe drinking water for the City and our neighboring communities, however the price of water continues to rise. The City has made small increases in the unit charge for all users to reflect this quality evenly across City taxpayers and our neighbors who share this necessary resource.
Community Well-being:
This year, the City will spend over $5.9M on recreation and wellness—the most ever in City’s history. The Recreation Department has been reconfigured to incorporate the new Regional Recreation and Aquatics Centre along with additional programing aimed at providing social opportunities for seniors and inclusive play for children.
Tourism:
Investing in trails, downtown improvements and other measures to attract tourists gives residents more opportunities to recreate and enjoy our community as well. The City is working with stakeholders to develop and the Humber/Bay of Islands region as a cohesive tourism destination. This year, we will invest in branding for the region while developing amenities, such as new hiking and cycling trails. We also plan to spend more money on Jigs and Wheels to raise its appeal beyond the local area. As well, we will be earmarking money for specific downtown improvements as well as the establishment of a new committee.
Getting around:
The City will be investing an extra $120,000 in transit, doubling the capacity of our buses. In addition to this, the City will be piloting accessible transit options and looking for new ways to innovate the overall system and keep our city moving. We will also see our accessibility study come back from consultants this year, which will likely guide other investments in the well-being of differently abled peoples in our community.
All included, the 2025 budget marks a significant leap forward in making Corner Brook a more inclusive, exciting and attractive place to live, work and play.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Ryan Butt
Communications Officer
City of Corner Brook
Office: (709) 637-1662
rbutt@cornerbrook.com
