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THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Trudeau meets with Merritt supporters By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Liberal Party of Canada leadership hopeful Justin Trudeau met with supporters at the Merritt Desert Inn on Monday. Emily Wessel/Herald
Liberal Party of Canada leadership hopeful Justin Trudeau talked his political philosophy Monday with local supporters at a luncheon in Merritt. Trudeau made the stop at the Merritt Desert Inn on his way to Kelowna for a speaking engagement near the end of his B.C. campaign. The son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said his father was one of the influencing factors in his entry to the leadership race. “I hesitated for a long time before deciding to throw my hat into the ring for leadership of the Liberal party,” Trudeau said. “I did it for one reason and for one reason only: I wasn’t
sure that I’d be able to be a good dad while I was travelling around the country and doing the work that needed to be done. But I had a role model, an extraordinary father who was there as much as he possibly could be, who tucked me into bed every night.” The younger Trudeau talked about how achieving equality has changed since his father’s time as Prime Minister from the late ’60s to early ’80s. Trudeau compared his father’s work toward equality — which included Canada’s bilingualism and multiculturalism policies — with today’s challenges, including honouring First Nations treaty rights.
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Property tax increase pegged at 2.25 per cent The modest proposed hike mostly accounts for inflation, as deliberations continue at City Hall By Phillip Woolgar THE HERALD
newsroom@merrittherald.com
The City of Merritt budget deliberations have started, with a tentative 2.25 per cent increase pegged for residential property owners. The increase represents about $140,000 more from city coffers, which is comparable to last year’s hike. Administration didn’t have information on what the dollar figure would be for
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each property owner. The city’s five-year plan has increases in each year pegged at roughly the same amount, but council will have to approve the draft budget before the final number is decided. “We can’t go any further than that until [council] firms up the budget,” Merritt Financial Services Manager Pat Sibilleau said. “When you look at operating an organization the size that
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‘... a $140,000 increase doesn’t give you a lot of flex, considering the cost of living increase...’ —CITY OF MERRITT FINANCIAL SERVICES MANAGER PAT SIBILLEAU
we are, a $140,000 increase doesn’t give you a lot of flex, considering the cost of living increase in the last year.” The city is also waiting for the B.C. government’s property assessments in April. “Then, based on
the dollars that are determined by the city to operate, we will set the tax rate based on the values of the assessments,” she explained. If everything goes as planned, tax notices will be mailed in May.
Over the next several weeks, city administration is presenting tentative expenses to council, who have an opportunity to make changes they see fit. Councillors are in the process of going through each line item to see where cuts can be made or expenses added. “We set costs based on a level of service we think the community should have,” Merritt’s Chief
Administrative Officer Matt Noble said. He said staff have included items in the budget based on community need. In addition to money from taxpayers, the province issues grants in June, but the city doesn’t know how much those will be. “We don’t expect there to be a lot of changes, just slight changes for inflation,” Noble said. “The residential assess-
ment is slightly down and the commercial assessment is slightly down.” The budget is largely unchanged from the previous year, with additional tourism expenses of about $40,000. The money is dedicated to advertising, economic development advertising, a community tourism opportunities fund and a community tourism fund.
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