FRIDAY
S I N C E
FEBRUARY 1, 2013
1 8 9 5 B.V. hosts Nelson as playoffs loom
Vol. 118, Issue 19
110
$
Page 13
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Electoral boundaries realignment released
PICKET PROTEST
Fruitvale, Montrose, Castlegar and Trail stay in same riding but Nelson, Salmo join East Kootenay BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
TIMOTHY SCHAFER PHOTO
On Thursday CUPE Local 3999’s non-essential services workers were on the streets of downtown Trail in front of the Trail Association for Community Living office picketing for their first raise in over 10 years. See story on Page 3
CITY OF TRAIL
Tentative budget calls for 4.5 per cent tax hike BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
A preliminary budget released by City of Trail staff is calling for a 4.51 per cent increase in residential property taxes for 2013. However, the budget numbers are only a “best case scenario” for the city, said Mayor Dieter Bogs, and flesh out a wish list of city projects and expenditures. The real increase, likeMP ad 1_2_J5a_Layout 1 12-06-07 ly nailed down in the next
three-and-a-half months of deliberations by council, will be in line with inflation at two per cent or less when the budget is formally approved May 15, he said. “This (budget) is without modifications. It hasn’t been finalized,” he said. “We don’t intend to increase taxes by (4.51) per cent. There certainly is no way we would go for that kind of increase.” At first flush the 2013 8:04 AM is Page 1 budget predicting a $55.91
rise in municipal property taxes to $850.20 on the average assessed value of a Trail home—set at $183,435 for the year, down from $184,540 in 2012. Combined with a rise in water (two per cent), sewer (2.5 per cent) and garbage (3.77 per cent) user fees, taxes paid based on the preliminary 2013 budget are predicted to rise 4.51 per cent— or $72.01—to $1,669.30 on an average home.
“If you do everything that we would like to see done, and everything that should be done, this would be the kind of increase we would have,” said Bogs. The first three-hour budget meeting by city council has already been done, with five more meetings to come as well as public consultation. Once the nearly $10-million budget is finalized, final property tax See GENERAL, Page 3
The people of the West Kootenay have spoken and the federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has not listened. The commission submitted its recommendations on Monday for reconfiguration of federal electoral boundaries in B.C.—allowing for six new districts while keeping population numbers equitable—and have ignored the overwhelming sentiment garnered from a commission tour of the region in October, says the B.C. Southern Interior’s member of Parliament. Alex Atamanenko said the recommendation, that splits Trail and Castlegar off from Nelson, will hamper actual accessibility people would have to a member of Parliament, as well as the area’s ability to come together on common issues. “The findings are contrary to what the overwhelming majority of people said at the hearings,” he explained. “People wanted our communities to stay together—Nelson, Trail and Castlegar—they did not listen to that. They are basically going with the initial proposal that they had before, so it shows they weren’t really listening that well.” The new boundaries will be studied by a House of Commons committee and the final realignment will be submitted in September Although submissions encouraged the commission to keep Nelson, Castlegar and Trail in one electoral district, such a combination “would have resulted in an electoral district with numbers well above the electoral quota,” read the report from the commission. As a result of the tour, the commission configured a new electoral district named South Okanagan, West Kootenay that includes Trail, Castlegar, Fruitvale and Montrose in its eastern region. However, it will see Nelson, along with Kaslo, Salmo and Creston, join with the East Kootenay in the Kootenay Columbia riding and apart from Castlegar and Trail. The central portion of the South Okanagan, West Kootenay district comprises the Kootenay Boundary area, and the western region incorporates Osoyoos, Oliver and Penticton. See MP, Page 3
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