WEDNESDAY
S I N C E
MARCH 13, 2013 Vol. 118, Issue 41
110
$
1 8 9 5
Smokie scores BCHL MVP award Page 11
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
End of HST will cost municipalities
Pigeon control plan grounded
PEERING OFF THE PIER
BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
Some stories take flight all on their own. Case in point, and still up in the air for Trail council, is how to rid the Silver City of its pigeons. At the Feb. 25 meeting, council unanimously approved a $25,000 payment to Care Pest and Wildlife Control (CPWC) to rid the downtown area of the birds. The CPWC contract set forth the proposal to trap the pigeons and relocate them to the lower mainland, where they would be donated to a pigeon trainer. Wayne Proulx, engineering technician and administrator for the proposed contract, said a press release by the city garnered significant media attention and CPWC was inundated with calls over the destination of the birds. “In a recent conversation with CPWC on March 5, they advised the city that their proposal with the City of Trail was withdrawn.” Proulx said that CPWC was advised by the BCSPCA that due to the long distance from Trail to the Lower Mainland that it was in their best interest not to proceed with the pigeon control program with the City of Trail. The main reason given was that if the pigeons were in distress in the traps, the time for CPWC to attend to the situation would not be done in a timely manner, said Proulx. See STAFF, Page 2
BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
The joke is on municipalities when the GST and the PST return April 1. All provincial municipalities will be receiving less and paying more when the two taxes return on April Fool’s Day, with the re-instatement of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Provincial Sales Tax (PST). There will be fewer taxpayer dollars to spread around this year on municipal budgets than under the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) system. Under the HST, a municipality would receive all of the federal tax paid for most goods and services back from the government, and 75 per “There cent of the provincial tax definitely paid back. will be an However, under the renewed GST/PST tax impact (with scheme, while the federal the PST).” tax is still refunded, the provincial portion is not. KEVIN CHARTRES The City of Trail will pay a little more but it will be of minimal impact to its operations, said Rino Merlo, deputy director of finance, around one or two per cent. Merlo did a quick analysis of the tax return and on total expenses the city would incur in a year—and not all expenses are PST taxed—the change might mean an extra $180,000 in additional costs to the city. “This is a dollar figure that we wouldn’t get back and therefore is costed to the city,” he said. For example, on a $100,000 city purchase the total tax paid would be $12,000, with around five per cent ($5,000) to the federal government, and seven per cent ($7,000) to the province. The federal portion would be returned. Under the HST system, the federal tax as well as 75 per cent of the provincial tax were returned to the city, for a total refund of $10,250. Village of Montrose chief administrative officer Kevin Chartres said the village is trying to make purchases that are PST-able before the end of the month. “Which is hard when your budget has not been set,” he said. “There definitely will be an impact (with the PST).” Contractor work will be exempt of PST, but actual purchases will have both taxes on it. That works out to an extra five per cent on all goods a municipality has to buy, said Village of Fruitvale chief administrative officer Lila Cresswell. “(PST) squeezes every area that we use See PST, Page 3
Trail store down to its final days Zellers set to close doors after three decades in Home of Champions BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
GUY BERTRAND PHOTO
Doug O’Hearn and Elly Schmutz take a long walk on the long pier at Trail boat launch near Gyro Park on Monday evening. To find out what they saw in the water, turn to Page 20.
This is the last week to catch a deal at Zellers. On Saturday, after over 30 years in Trail, the retailer will close its doors for good. For one employee, its closure hurts for more than one reason. Audrey Pitman, an employee of Zellers for 11 years, will soon to be out of work. But more than her job, she will miss her long-time customers and the daily chats and stories they shared. “The one thing I will miss most, is the people who visited, shopped and ate here daily,” she said. “This store was part of their lives for so many years.” Zellers was a hub on the corner of Cedar Ave. and Eldorado St., in downtown Trail until the See LIQUIDATION, Page 3
Ron & Darlene
Your Local Home Team Real Estate Questions? We have the answers Buying or Selling - call us
Ron 250.368.1162 Darlene 250.231.0527
Kootenay Homes Inc. ! D OL
S
Contact us today! We can sell your home!
See more great homes at
www.hometeam.ca hometeam@hometeam.ca
Contact the Times: Phone: FineLine250-368-8551 Technologies 62937 Index 9 Fax:JN250-368-8550 80% 1.5 BWR NU Newsroom: 250-364-1242 Canada Post, Contract number 42068012