THURSDAY
S I N C E
OCTOBER 30, 2014
1 8 9 5
Vol. 119, Issue 170
105
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Meet Fruitvale candidates
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
MONTROSE
Candidates quizzed on recreation and infrastructure BY LIZ BEVAN Times Staff
Recreation, amalgamation and infrastructure issues were hot topics at Tuesday night's Montrose Candidates Forum. Over 50 people gathered at Montrose Community Hall to quiz mayoral and councillor candidates on those topics, and more, ahead of voting day next month. Attendees were asked to write down their questions for the candidates before the forum, and moderator Ron Clarke consolidated similar questions, leaving nine queries to be posed to the panel. Mayoral candidates Joe Danchuk and Griff Welsh addressed the audience and Royce Schmidt, Rory Steep, Brittanie Irwin, Mark Reid, Lynda Bouthillier, Mary Gay and Cindy Cook, candidates for the four councillor seats, shared their thoughts and ideas, hoping to sway a couple of voters their way. Candidates were each given equal time to answer every question. One of the questions that garnered the most audience reaction was regarding a recreation deal with the City of Trail. All candidates agreed that a deal between Montrose and Trail needs to be reached, but mayor
LIZ BEVAN PHOTO
Every seat was full at Montrose Community Hall for the Montrose Candidates Forum on Tuesday night. Candidates discussed recreation, amalgamation and the Montrose school building. Tonight at 7 p.m., Trail will be hosting its forum at the Trail Memorial Centre gym with the 14 candidates running for office sitting on the panel. and councillor candidates want it to be fair for everyone involved. Danchuk, incumbent Montrose mayor, believes the recreation issue will soon be a thing of the past.
“I think, after this election, the recreation problem will go away by the new year,” he said, adding that the Beaver Valley Recreation Committee is constantly working towards a new deal for the area.
Mayoral candidate, Welsh, says reaching a deal regarding recreation and use of facilities is all about numbers. “Tell us what (Trail) is spending (on recreation),” he said. “My
solution is accountability. We have asked and asked and asked until we are worn out. Hopefully the new council in Trail will change their ways. See MONTROSE, Page 3
Report highlights spending habits of region’s municipalities Local towns fare well overall in BC Municipal Spending Watch 2014 BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
For many Canadians, July 2 could be seen as doomsday for their bank account. That's the day property taxes are due, and year after year, the bill keeps going up and up. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) backs the costly trend in a new report that notes overall, there's been a 55 per cent increase in B.C.'s municipal operating spending in the last dozen years.
Increases could be due to variety of factors, such as infrastructure upgrades to sewer and water. That might not sound too exciting, but a spending watch is crucial because, in the end, those costs trickle down to the taxpayer. The study examined 151 B.C. municipalities and ranked how well each community stacks up on spending. Lower Columbia taxpayers seem to have it better than most in the province. According to CFIB's BC Municipal Spending Watch 2014, four communities ranked at the top, and one city in the middle, for their spending-control practices. The CFIB report, which was released this week, lumps the West and East
Kootenay together alongside the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast. The Top 10 spending control communities in order are, Fruitvale, Salmo, Kaslo, Rossland, Montrose, Creston, 100 Mile House, Warfield, Castlegar, and Quesnel. The City of Trail was number 13 on the list of 28 in the region, Nelson, 19th and Silverton bottomed out as the worst ranked municipality in the region and the third worst in the province. It's important to note that the overall rank factored in two equally-weighted indicators: the percentage growth in operating spending over the past 12 years (2000-2012) adjusted for inflation and population; and the 2012 operating spending per capita. Also, the results aren't exactly black
and white. Though Fruitvale ranked first locally with a $731 per capita operating spending in 2012 and fourth best provincially; the report outlines, taking into account population growth, the village's 25 per cent increase in operating spending since 2000. Montrose numbers show a 30 per cent increase in spending over 12 years, however the village was fourth best regionally, with $985 spent per capita in 2012. Ranked seventh on the best-of Kootenay list is Warfield, with $1,059 spent per capita in 2012. Worth noting is that the village's increase in operating spending since 2000, stands at 43 per cent. See TRAIL, Page 2
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