EAGLE VALLEY
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013 PM40008236
Vol. 55 No. 17 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Property tax to increase by 2.75 per cent
Water woes: Joan Snyder opens her kitchen faucet wide but gets only a few drops in response. Snyder and her neighbours at Cedar Ridge Mobile Home Park have been without water for weeks.
Assessments: Increase offset by decrease in property values. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Sicamous residents will be facing a 2.75 per cent property tax increase with district council having completed a budget focused on the municipality living within its means. Council went public with a completed draft of the 2013 budget last week, and first reading will occur at their regular meeting tonight (Wednesday) at 5 p.m. in council chambers. Mayor Darrell Trouton says council began their budget deliberations facing an 8.9 property tax increase. Regarding the 2.75 per cent, Trouton says this figure takes into account losses relating to dropping assessed property values, so that what Governments need residents are actually fac- to start operating ing is a 1.35 per cent in- within their means crease over last year. and be as efficient “We can change the as possible. And so tax rates as property val- that’s what we’re ues drop, but we can’t re- striving for. cover the assessed values Darrell Trouton from BC Assessment,” Mayor says Trouton. Council also adjusted the tax rate for businesses, dropping it from 2.45 to 2.22. Trouton said council thought the 2.45 was unfair for business. “Residences would have had a lower tax rate and businesses would have had a lot higher tax rate, and we tried to even it out as much as possible without crippling businesses in Sicamous,” he said. Trouton said the budget process was difficult, and that council picked it apart thoroughly. He says the end result is a document that reflects local government attempting to live within its means. “Governments need to start operating within their means and be as efficient as possible,” said Trouton. “And so that’s what we’re striving for.” However, the mayor also described the budget See Council agrees on page 2
Photo by Lachlan Labere
Mobile park owners frustrated without water Unwell well: Health authority pushing for collaborative solution.
By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Fat black ants crawl along the backsplash in Joan Snyder’s kitchen, attracted to the unwashed dishes piled on the counter and in the sink because there’s no water available to wash them. The few dribbles that come pouring out of a fully-opened kitchen faucet confirms Snyder’s story – one shared by about seven of her neighbours who sitting in her living room, wanting to convey the frustration residents of Cedar Ridge Mobile Home Park have been living with for weeks. “We have no water at all. We don’t have anything to wash dishes, give the cat, now, as we’re getting into the garden season, we’ve got nothing for our gardens, which I live on for all the summer and it helps me out throughout the winter,” says Snyder, noting there have been issues with the water in the park since she moved in seven years ago. “We’ve been on a boil-water advisory since we moved in
here,” says Doug Desjardins, Snyder’s partner. “Now, for the last three months, we’ve had water intermittently, meaning, you never know when you turn your tap on, you might have water, you might not. So you can’t start the washer, you can’t use the dishwasher, you never know if you can flush your toilet, you never know if you take a shower, half way through you’ve got no water.” Neighbour Debbie Anderson says she has health issues and has been without water for two months. “For the past two months I have not had more than a dribble come out of my tap. Today, I can’t flush my toilet,” said Anderson. Everyone in the room has a similar story, and everyone’s story includes complaints about inaction on the part of the property’s manager to rectify the problem. Cedar Ridge is managed by Edmonton-based Century 21 realtor Tim Hennigar, who empathizes with the residents’ frustration.
Hennigar says the park on Sicamous-Solsqua Road was purchased in 2007 and, shortly after, water turbidity standards changed, putting the existing water system out of compliance, resulting in the ongoing boil-water advisory. After that, says Henniger, the well that supplies water to the park began to have “waterquantity problems.” He explained the well is on a private property on the other side of Sicamous-Solsqua Road. “The water line runs up past a couple of acreages to our park, so we have an easement in place, that we would essentially own the well, but provide everyone on the easement with water,” said Henniger. Interior Health eventually stepped in and issued notice to do something about the waterquality issues, and Henniger says steps were taken to see what filtration system would be best suited. “In exploring our options, we were also told by Interior Health that not only did we have to provide chlorinated
water… to our tenants, we also had to provide it to everybody on our easement,” sad Henniger. “We didn’t have a problem with that; however… the problem with that is that our well was giving us problems.” Henniger says the park had issues with sporadic water for some time, so a new well was drilled in late 2010. But that well has since been problematic. Now the desire is to drill a new well, and Henniger says he has already been approved by Interior Health to “fast-track the system, and get a new well put in place.” But, he adds, IH engineering requirements, combined their wanting all current users on the new system, is creating a headache. “We have no problem supplying them with water, just don’t make us responsible for their chlorination and re-running pipelines all the way back down the hill, under the road and to the guy at the bottom, who is adamant he’s not going to contribute a nickel to this thing,” says Henniger. See Property owner on page 2