ALDERGROVE STAR STAR ALDERGROVE Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 54 Years
| Thursday, March 29, 2012
Pritchett Turns Up P The Heat! PAGE 12 T
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Budget up to pay for more fire crews By FRANK BUCHOLTZ Aldergrove Star
HARRY HUNT PHOTO
Aldergrove Snipers’ Coleson Neil (foreground) gets a nice bouncing puck at the Abbotsford Hawks’ net, March 23 at the Atom Tournament at Aldergrove Arena. The Snipers scored a 5-2 win that day. More from the Aldergrove Atom and Initiation Tournaments this past week inside this edition of The Star.
Taxes in Langley Township will rise by 2.95 per cent in 2012, council decided in a 9-0 unanimous vote on Monday. The jump in taxes will pay for increased operating costs in a number of areas, along with the hiring of eight new firefighters, one RCMP officer, and renovations to firehall 6 to make it compatible for full-time firefighters. Council will not proceed with a planned 0.5 per cent tax increase for transportation and roads maintenance, and a 0.5 percent increase for a capital infrastructure renewal fund. The latter will be discussed when the 2013 budget is being prepared. Council still has to formally pass the 2012 budget. Monday’s vote was to receive a report on the budget and input from the public, and to decide on specific items within the budget. A five-year financial plan and appropriate bylaws will come forward at the April 16 meeting. Councillor Kim Richter said she wants to see the components of the tax increase explained to taxpayers when they get their property tax notices. Administrator Mark Bakken said that can be done in material that accompanies the tax notice. A 0.7 per cent tax increase will go towards hiring the eight new firefighters, with another 0.45 per cent to finish the firehall 6 renovations. The additional police officer will cost 0.05 per cent extra. “I support the eight new firefighters, in the name of public safety,” Richter said. “I want people to know how much we are
putting into public safety.” Councillor Bob Long said it was good to add the eight new firefighters in the 2012 budget, because “if you do it in smaller bits, it comes up each year.” “It’s most efficient to introduce eight firefighters now, instead of over several years,” said Councillor Bev Dornan. Councillor Steve Ferguson noted that spending more money on public safety means less money somewhere else. He said he would have liked to see the transportation and roads and capital replacement funds proceed, but “we have to work within our means.” Councillor Grant Ward said the fact that the transportation and roads maintenance funding isn’t going in the budget means “the potholes we see now likely won’t be repaired as they ought to be.” Councillor Charlie Fox said the public input into budget issues jumped dramatically in 2012, with 96 people attending two open houses, as compared to 28 last year. A staff report noted that “the substantial increase in attendees can be mostly attributable to the attendance of Township of Langley firefighters.” The International Association of Fire Fighters, local 4550, which represents Township firefighters, has been vocal about the need to hire more firefighters, to ensure there are always four-man crews responding to fire calls. Another 100 people filled out a public input response form. The Township’s financial plan calls for 2.95 per cent tax increases in each of the next four years, through to 2016.
Aldergrove pool supporters told ‘not yet, but soon’ By MIRANDA GATHERCOLE Aldergrove Star
A new Aldergrove pool and recreation centre will not be completed by 2014 as enthusiasts hope, but it will be conceived sometime in the future, according to Langley Township council. Joanne Nicolato, chair of the
recently-formed Aldergrove Pool Committee, spoke to Township council Monday night to make her case for why the Aldergrove community needs a new pool and recreation centre. Nicolato, who was featured on the Million-Dollar Neighbourhood reality TV project filmed in Aldergrove
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this past year by the Oprah Winfrey Network, is a strong believer that Aldergrove needs this new infrastructure to bring the community together. Once a large critic of Aldergrove, since being part of the Oprah Winfrey Network show, Nicolato says she has found a new love and pride for her community.
“I found myself bursting with community pride. I went from not caring at all to now wanting to do whatever I could to support our businesses and to bring back life to our community,” she said to council. The Aldergrove Pool Committee is currently handing out surveys to calculate exactly how much support
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there is for their project. Nicolato says people from all surrounding areas will also be using the centre, so it will benefit residents beyond the borders of Aldergrove. “When I started this I wanted a pool. When we’ve been doing the survey what we have found is that it’s SEE: Page 3
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