79 days... ‘til Relay for Life June 22nd, 2012
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District sparks grant review By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
Andrew Hudson/Houston Today
SPRING Smiles
Canadian Cancer Society volunteers Shirley Collins and Coralee Roy sell bouquets of daffodils in the Houston mall on Thursday. Daffodils will also bloom in Houston April 27, National Daffodil Day, when Houston Secondary students host a family dance in the Houston Community Hall to kick off the Relay for Life fundraiser. For more info or to join a team, visit cancer.ca/relay.
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When it comes to small town tax rates, Houston is a squeaky wheel that may get some provincial attention. District staff called on Victoria last fall to explain an unexpected drop in Houston’s Small Communities Grant—a grant for towns under 19,000 people that makes up between five and 10 per cent of Houston’s annual operating budget. At first, said Director of Finance Tandra Bamsey, staff were told Houston was receiving a lower grant because upgrades at the Canfor sawmill have raised Houston’s tax base. In 2011, Canfor replaced a pair of ageing kilns at the Houston mill, significantly boosting its production.
“I think Houston’s done a good job.”
- John Rustad
N e c h a ko - L a k e s MLA John Rustad, who looked into the issue at the District’s request, said ministry staff estimate that the Canfor upgrade meant Houston received $25,000 less in grant funding. But what the province didn’t realize is that Houston waived the extra tax it could have collected from Canfor for that fiscal year, and it will only tax the full value of the upgraded mill four years from now. See TAXES on Page 2
Northern towns asked to speak up about recycling plan By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
Houston needs to speak up about B.C.’s latest recycling plan, says Janine Dougall, environmental services director at the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako. In a presentation to Houston council,
Dougall said that by 2014 the province plans to move to a producerpays model for recycling print products, such as newspaper, and packaging materials, such as boxes, bottles, and plastic containers. “That’s pretty big for municipalities,” she said, noting that many are struggling to keep
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“This is a pretty fundamental shift.”
taxes d down as th they deal with rising volumes of solid waste. So far, Dougall says Victoria plans to have
- Janine Dougall producers cover recycling costs for 75 per cent of all print and packaging materials sold in B.C.
But Houston and other northern towns might miss out under that provincial target, Dougall says, since producers could simply write off northern B.C. as part of the 25 per cent they don’t need to recycle. “What this regional district is trying to do is force them to
develop regionallybased goals,” Dougall told Houston council. “Because we all know that down in the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan and higherdensity locations, those programs already exist and it’s probably pretty easy to transition.” “It’s in places like ours, where we don’t
have a lot of recycling infrastructure or programs in place where it’s going to be more challenging, and potentially more costly.” If B.C. does switch to regional targets, the new program could bring curb-side recycling to towns that have garbage pickup. See PAPER on Page 3