B.C. Views B.C. premier looks back on 2013. p6
Wine tasting comes to farmers’ market. p11
THE NEWS
Sports Yes Virginia, there is a scholarship. p37
www.mapleridgenews.com Wednesday, December 18, 2013 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
Victory for mom-baby prison program by M on i sh a M ar ti n s staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Ace, King John and Anne Bowles take a group of people on a festive horse-drawn carriage ride with Percheron horses King and Ace through the neighbourhood around Davie Jones elementary on Sunday. See more, p25.
The provincial government’s decision to close a program that allowed incarcerated mothers to raise their babies in a Maple Ridge women’s prison has been deemed unconstitutional. Issued Monday, the precedent setting B.C. Supreme Court decision marks the end of five-year-long battle for Amanda Inglis and Patricia Block, two former inmates at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women who sued the province after the program was suddenly shut down in 2008. The court held that mothers’ and babies’ equality rights, as well as their rights to security of the person, were violated by the government’s decision to end the program. See Ex-inmates, p16
Council split on tax increase Three members still think more can be trimmed by M o ni s ha M a r tin s staff reporter
The lowest tax increase in the past decade failed to get unanimous support from Pitt Meadows council Thursday, as three councillors believe the city can make further cuts to its budget for 2014. The proposed 1.9 per cent increase was touted in a press re-
lease Monday that noted staff and council trimmed more than $475,000 from a draft budget for next year. Thursday, a majority of council supported forwarding the proposed tax increase for approval in the new year. The increase would add $53 to the tax bill for the average singlefamily home valued at $450,000. Council’s scrutiny took into consideration a petition signed by 1,500 people calling for no tax increase in 2014, spearheaded by Tom Murray and his wife Norma.
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Tom Murray passed away suddenly on Sunday after a brief battle with cancer. “We heard what our residents and businesses were saying and worked with staff to reduce areas with the least impact on services,” said Mayor Deb Walters. “I’m proud that council and staff did their due diligence and worked towards a very modest budget increase,” she added. This is definitely a tax rate increase that we can defend and is less than many figures coming out across the region.”
To make the cuts, council scrutinized its own spending, unanimously supporting a plan to eliminate out-of-province conference travel and significantly reduce corporate membership costs to organizations such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Increasing costs such as the recently announced B.C. Hydro rates and other construction costs were offset by internal savings. THE NEWS/files As well, $70,000 could be saved by not hiring an additional police Tom Murray, who for the past two years petitioned the city to halt residential tax officer next year, as planned. See Taxes, p15 increases, passed away on Sunday.
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