New vehicle Lantzville purchases new fire truck for more than $500,000. Page 11 McLachlan’s music Alberta Ballet performs at the Port Theatre. Page 27 Clippers check Junior A hockey team takes four of six points. Page 3
Beautiful You Page 37
Celebrating
1988
2013
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2013
VOL. 25, NO. 63
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Fewer beds offered at extreme weather shelter this season BY TaMara CuNNiNghaM ThE NEwS BULLETiN
Iain McIver, Aspengrove school board member, is grateful for the partial tax break the school received from the District of Lantzville, but said he believes the school should be treated the same as other not-for-profits and given full tax exemption status. CHRIS BUSH THe NewS BUlleTIN
Lantzville reduces tax exemption by half
I
Aspengrove wILL continue to seek tax exemption.
BY TaMara CuNNiNghaM ThE NEwS BULLETiN
Aspengrove School executives say they are grateful for an 11th-hour decision to waive more than half of its land tax next year. But the school won’t give up its fight to see permissive tax exemptions for independent schools taken out of the hands of municipal government, a board member says. The District of Lantzville backtracked on a recent decision not to grant a $6,070 permissive tax exemption to
Aspengrove School, instead opting to reduce the tax break to 51 per cent in 2014. The vote was made unanimously Oct. 30, several days before the deadline for a tax exemption bylaw. Lantzville council initially decided not to give the school a permissive tax exemption, citing low participation rates by local students and concerns about residents being double taxed for education. But Coun. Jennifer Millbank said the school seemed unprepared financially to pay the tax and council members faced a ‘deadlock’ vote on its tax exemption bylaw over the issue. Without an approved bylaw, no organizations would receive
“
Two years ago [Lantzville] granted the exemption and two years [later] it is taken away because of the whim of the council elected at the time.
a tax break, Millbank said, adding a 51 per cent exemption was “something of a compromise.”
It will also allow the school more time to prepare for next year, when the district will reconsider the permissive tax exemption, Millbank said. Aspengrove School executives said they are pleased and grateful for the reduced tax bill, which will help reduce budget pressure. However, they still plan to lobby the province to make tax breaks mandatory for independent schools so there isn’t “this flip-flopping back and forth,” said school principal, Zinda FitzGerald. Currently the municipality is required to give tax exemptions for independent school buildings. u See ‘SCHOOL’ /4
A Nanaimo cold weather shelter is offering fewer beds this season as more of the city’s chronic homeless are housed. The First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo opened its cold weather shelter on Friday to start giving the city’s homeless refuge from the rain and windchill. There will be 18 beds available, down from 24 the previous year. According to shelter coordinator Kevan Griffith, an aggressive push to house the chronically homeless has led to a drop in people seeking temporary lodging. Between 2011 and 2012 there was a 25-per cent decrease in people looking for shelter, prompting this season’s reduction in beds. “[I] met with the province and the city and we just realized that we don’t need that many beds and if we don’t need them, why ... [pay] for them,” he said. The city contributes $35,000 annually toward the cold weather shelter, while the province gives per-night funding during extreme temperatures. Those who use the shelter receive a hot meal, bed and breakfast the next morning. Some people are also given housing lists and information on community resources. Griffith said there seems to be fewer people arriving nightly at the shelter thanks to an effort to house the homeless in places like the 30-unit Wesley Street supportive housing complex. But temporary lodging is still a need in Nanaimo, he said. There are people passing through town that need a place to stay and “for some, they just don’t want a home,” Griffith said. “[Shelters] are a rallying point for the homeless. A place they can go with no questions [asked],” Griffith said. news@nanaimobulletin.com
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