Wednesday, December 18, 2013
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Volume 93 - No. 51
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www.ldnews.net
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$1.30 GST inc.
BURNS LAKE
LAKES DISTRICT NEWS John Furlong’s Burns Lake odyssey “Based on the facts uncovered, the allegations made by Beverly Abraham are not supported. Reasonable and probable grounds do not exist...”
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BLComfor assurances
Fishing Derby It looks like a scene from the game Where’s Waldo but it isn’t. Local resident Harald Wulf submitted this photo of an ice fishing day on a lake in South Korea.
Burns Lake victims service gets RDBN nod
Proposed cooperation between rural and municipal tax base protects valuable service WALTER STRONG
The Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) has responded positively to a Village of Burns Lake (VBL) request for financial assistance in running the Burns Lake Police Victims Service (PVS). The Village of Burns Lake has been subsidizing the service over and above provincial funding for more than 20 years. The village’s contribution,
provincial funding, and other shorter term funding sources have helped to provide an important service in Burns Lake and area. According to statistics tracked by PVS, RDBN areas B and E each account for approximately 20 per cent of total users of the service based in Burns Lake (see Oct. 30, 2013 Victim services threatened). Based on those statistics, VBL invited the RDBN to consider contributing to annual funding. The village was hoping to find increased funding for the program so that a permanent, full-time assistant coordinator could be hired. A second full-time position would have required approximately $87,000 in total funding, but the RDBN was not in favour of that move. “They [the RDBN] were in favour of keeping the status quo and not increasing the service,” VBL chief administrative officer Sheryl Worthing said. The RDBN returned with a proposal to contrib-
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ute to the Burns Lake PVS based on a 60/20/20 split, where Burns Lake would contribute 60 per cent, and areas B and E would contribute 20 per cent each. The maximum would be capped at $20,000 annually, combined. The proposal from the RDBN will allow Burns Lake PVS to continue as it does now with one fulltime staff member and one part-time member. The funds would come out of property tax on improvements and show up as a single line item on property tax statements showing the funds as allocated for the ‘Burns Lake and area victims services’ service’. According to the RDBN and based on 2013 assessments, the tax impact of the PVS proposal is 0.021 per cent on the residential taxes on improvements per $1000 in area B, and 0.034 per cent for residents of area E. ...see VICTIMS ▼ P5
Uncertainty among user groups in the Lakes District who previously relied on Burns Lake Community Forest (BLComfor) funding for their projects made its way to Village of Burns Lake (VBL) council chamber last week.
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Burns Lake recycle depot planning to move The owners of the Burns Lake Return-It Depot have requested that the Village of Burns Lake (VBL) lease a section of village property to them.
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Phone: 250.692.1700 • Fax: 250.692.1750 • Toll Free: 1.866.692.1943 545 Highway 16 West • PO Box 5000, Burns Lake, BC • V0J 1E0 Email: lksdist@cnc.bc.ca • Website: www.cnc.bc.ca/lakesdistrict