The Chilliwack
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Italian choral works in the CMO spotlight.
Vedder Mountain residents seek solutions.
Chiefs finish season versus Rivermen.
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Chilliwack keeps its taxes low Increase of 3.44% still lower than Chilliwack’s neighbours, city says Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
City of Chilliwack has levied some of the lowest taxation rates of any municipality in the Lower Mainland several years running — and this year is no different Director of Finance Kathleen Fraser presented the city’s 2013 Financial Plan in chambers Tuesday, explaining the 3.44 per cent increase translates into about $51 more in taxes for the average homeowner in Chilliwack. “Property taxes are 33 per cent less than in neighbouring municipalities,” she said, referring to provincial statistics. The increase of 3.44 per cent is the same as last year, and was slightly higher in previous years. Chilliwack actually has the lowest taxation rates in the region when you add taxes and charges, and the second lowest behind Surrey for taxes alone. “The proposed Financial Plan reinvests in infrastructure, funds projects without using debt, increases service levels, supports community organizations, and maintains low taxation levels,” according to the staff report. A full one per cent of the increase is going to pay for library operating expenses, totalling $640,000 for the brand-new Sardis library. Two per cent of the tax increase is represented by inflationary costs, caused by higher wages, contract prices and supply costs, which offer no wiggle room. The biggest chunk of the budget pie goes to policing costs, at 30 per cent, and for 2013 the policing budget went up by $841,500 to cover one new RCMP member, as well as a contract adjustment, and an administrative support position. The 2014 budget will fund two more police officers.
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Chlorination sparks rush for alternatives Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
Bottled water and filtration products are flying off the shelves at some local outlets in the wake of the continuous chlorination imposed on Chilliwack’s by Fraser Health officials. It started last week, said Chilliwack PriceSmart foods store manager Cal Siemens. “We have definitely had an increase in water sales,” he said. It’s impossible to provide a specific total or a percentage of sales, the store manager said, but the numbers are up in that category. “In the first couple of days, we
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Jim Smith of Waterite Technologies explains some of the water filtration options his company offers to the owners and staff at the Chilliwack Water Store. Since Chilliwack began chlorinating its water last week, store owners Vickie Theriault and Stuart Mitchell say they’ve noticed an upswing in people looking for alternatives. GREG KNILL/PROGRESS
certainly noticed we had some empty shelves,” he said. PriceSmart stocks a broad selection of drinking water products from bulk water with reverse osmosis, as well as filtration systems like the biggest sellers from Brita. The city’s emergency chlorination system was activated last week in the wake of a report of E.coli on the valley floor in Greendale. Residents learned the backup chlorination is going to stay on indefinitely. The Chilliwack Water Store, owned by Stuart Mitchell and Vickie Theriault, has also seen a solid spike in the number of calls, customer visits and bottled
water sales at the Yale Road establishment this week. “The biggest thing we’re seeing is more inquiries about the different methods of filtering out the chlorine,” he said. Some of the clientele have been arriving at the store in a bit of a panic over the recent introduction of chlorine to the Chilliwack water system. “We’ve been trying to answer their concerns and reassure them at the same time,” Mitchell said. The store specializes in reverse osmosis bottled water, and water coolers, as well as supplying shower heads with built-in filters and complete
home water filtration systems by Waterite. The in-house water is also filtered, using charcoal carbon filtration. “We’re definitely selling more bottled water this week,” said Mitchell. “And many of our old customers have been coming back to us.” Jim Smith, the Pacific Area Manager for Waterite Technologies was on-site at the Chilliwack Water Store on Wednesday, updating store personnel on their full filtration product line, including the Filter Soft Triplex system to remove sediment, chlorine and more. jfeinberg@theprogress.com twitter.com/chwkjourno
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