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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2014
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NO. 53 $1.30 Inc. GST
Tax increases coming By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
FIREFIGHTING Grant
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
The Houston Fire Department got a $40,000 grant for training and equipment. Houston Fire Chief Jim Daigneault says $35,000 is for turnout gear and breathing apparatuses and $5,000 is for training. The funding is a Public Safety Community Gaming Grant from the Province of B.C. The Houston Department has 30 volunteer firefighters plus Fire Chief Daigneault.
Houston can expect steady tax hikes over the next ten years. The District of Houston is developing an asset management plan which will call for more tax revenue to pay for maintenance and replacement of infrastructure and roads. Council discussed their five-year financial plan and a 40-year infrastructure outlook at a finance meeting Dec. 18. Director of Finance William Wallace says taxes will increase close to three percent every year over the next five years as the District recovers from the closure of Houston Forest Products and the $480,000 annual loss in tax revenue. Then the following five years, 2019 to 2024, council will consider tax increases
for inflation plus at least five percent increases a year for asset management. “I’d be surprised if it’s less than seven percent increases,” Wallace said. Houston Mayor Shane Brienen says Houston will not be alone. “Every community in B.C. is talking about this,” he said. C h i e f Administrative Officer Michael Glavin adds that it’s likely to become mandatory for communities to have an asset management plan. In Ontario, following the Walkerton tragedy, all local governments are required to have such plans in order to receive provincial or federal grants. Mayor Brienen says the B.C. government has been signalling that it’s coming to B.C. See TAX on Page 2
Hunters protest regulation shift favouring non-residents By Tom Fletcher Black Press
As B.C. hunters packed rooms to protest regulations giving guide-outfitters and their out-ofprovince clients a larger share of biggame permits, the provincial government argues that the shift is
being exaggerated. The latest increase in the share of guide permits to hunt moose, grizzly bear and other restricted animals in limited-entry hunting areas of B.C. totals 618 “hunting opportunities” across the province per year, says a statement from the Ministry of
Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. Based on the success rate of hunts for different species, “this model represents a transfer of approximately 186 animals from residents to guides.” The B.C. Wildlife Federation’s estimate that the wild game
allocation policy could result in 5,000 fewer hunting permits for resident hunters under limited entry hunting rules is “not accurate,” the ministry says. Forests Minister Steve Thomson said in an interview he made the decision on the latest allocation after a long consultation
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where the BCWF and the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. couldn’t agree. The decision was to provide certainty for guide businesses, but also took away guides’ rights to pool regional game allotments and hunt in vacant guiding territories. “There are
arguments over the number, depending on which base you use, and I expect those arguments will continue,” Thomson said. “At the end of the day we all want the same thing, which is healthy wildlife populations.” BCWF hosted hunter meetings in
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Kelowna and Langley this week, and spokesman Jesse Zeman said hunters were lined up out the door in Langley. He said the latest changes are part of a longer-term shift going back more than a decade that has seen a loss of harvest share for resident hunters. See HUNT on Page 3
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