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Volume 58 No. 20
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Sentinel
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Some surprises on 2013 tax bill Well there’s good news and bad news regarding your tax bill this year. The good Total tax rate (Per $1,000 taxable value): news is that the District of Kitimat did Residential class, hold to their planned Vacant: $10.04 two per cent increase With improvements/other: $6.99 (+ $527 to the municipal propflat tax) erty taxes. The bad news is Utilities: $58.67 that the significant rise in assessed values Major industry: $63.73 for homes in Kitimat means there will be a Light industry: $60.43 fairly sharp increase on school taxes. (The Business/other: $24.05 municipality collects taxes on behalf of Recreational property/Non-profit: $21.85 other authorities, but only set the rate for the Farm: $168.58 property tax portions.) *Numbers generalized to two deciKitimat’s treamals, and include taxes from all taxing surer Steve Christianauthorities. sen said that between a roughly six per cent rise in school tax costs for Kitimat (despite about a 2.5 per cent drop in the actual school tax rate), combined with the town’s own two per cent increase and a one per cent North West Regional Hospital District tax increase, the average tax bill in Kitimat will be 9.4 per cent higher than last year. That is on average, said Christiansen, and is variable depending on this year’s assessed value. “Some people’s houses didn’t go up and some went up as much as 50 per cent,” he said. Christiansen said that even he was surprised to see how much schools would cost this year in Kitimat’s taxes, saying it’s the last rate he receives. Such increases in assessed values in town were largely pulled by increased demand for certain housing types, he said. He said this increase is basically returning to the higher levels after a dip in 2011 when assessed values dived after the Eurocan Pulp and Paper Mill closure. Inclusive of all other included taxes, residential property taxes for properties with a building on it is $6.99 per $1,000 of assessed value, plus a flat tax of $527. That flat tax can actual temper wild fluctuations on tax bills, said Christiansen. “Without it, the higher priced houses would be taxed higher,” he said. “You get more variability [without it].” He said about 62 per cent of the property taxes collected by the town come from the flat tax portion. “It smooths that out a bit, that whipping up and down with assessed values.” The tax rate bylaw received three readings by press time, and final adoption was expected this passed Monday. BC Assessment says that the average market price for a house in Kitimat in 2013 is $192,417.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
By the numbers
James, in the green hat, and Parker count their coin after selling iced tea during a recent nice day in Kitimat. Submitted
Vaccinations for students Janet Munro’s efforts to get students vaccinated against multiple-strands of meningitis will be paying off this month as she and Dr. Howard Mills are bringing the vaccine to grade 12 students. Munro is a member of MeningitisBC.org, a group of parents who have lost children due to the illness, and many of whom later learned there were vaccines against the specific strands that could have protected their kids. Munro has been to Kitimat council and solicited support from them to promote a revamped provincial vaccination program. Councillors just returned from a regional conference of northern municipalities, where most attending communities — save for one — voted in support of promoting the vaccination program to the province, and to advocate to make April 24 World Meningitis Day. When the Sentinel spoke with Munro she was just waiting for dates to be able to get into the schools to hold an information session explaining the vaccine to students. “We would have to do it in...May because June is really busy for these kids,” she said. She explains that out of the 13 strains of meningitis, there are five that cause disease; A, B, C,
W135 and Y. A vaccine for Meningitis C was adopted in B.C. in 2003 as part of the public vaccination program, but since then a four-strain vaccine has come out, but is not yet publicly funded. “Us B.C. parents, the way we learn about it is if our child has died or become permanently disabled, because with this four strain one not being in the public immunization system, parents aren’t aware it even exists,” she said. Munro certainly didn’t know before her own son, Bradley, passed away in 2011, a result of meningitis illness. Munro says people can request the four-strain vaccine from a pharmacy and have it administered by your family doctor. Most extended health plans she has seen do cover a portion of the cost of the vaccine, which can cost upwards of $60 a dose. Obviously you’ll need to consult your own plan if you’re interested in the vaccine. Meningitis can be spread through nose and throat secretions, said Munro. She said statistics show one in five teenagers are carriers of the bacteria which causes meningitis.
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The life of a Kitimat nurse ... page 6