S TANDARD TERRACE
1.30
$
$1.24 PLUS 6¢ GST
VOL. 27 NO. 40
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
City aims for zero tax hike By JOSH MASSEY
AFTER YEARS of rising property tax rates, the City of Terrace is poised to roll out a rate increasefree budget for 2015 if preliminary calculations hold up. An increase in property tax revenue from last year’s new construction of homes and commercial buildings is being credited as the main reason for this, however there are still budget items being looked at which could nudge up the tax rate. City councillors began looking
at projections this week with a provisional budget of just under $22 million under consideration compared to last year’s final budget of just over $20 million. Of this, they are expecting $11,800,000 in property tax from business and residences which is $750,000 more than last year. The BC Assessment Office looked at 32 more residential properties for 2015 than it did for 2014. The total assessed value from residential and commercial and other classes now stand at $1,722,636,000, an increase of
Municipal wages will increase
CITY OF Terrace workers have healthy wage increases to look forward to with the signing of a three-year contract. The agreement finalized last week with the Canadian Union of Public Employees is for two per cent a year in each of the next three years, meaning the city will pay $593,757 more in wages after the full increase is in effect. There's also a .6 per cent increase in benefits for employees but how much is actually spent will depend upon how employees draw from their benefits. The city is also raising the wages of staff who aren't union members by the same percentage as the union contract, a dollar value of $160,050 over the three-year period. Under the new contract, for example, a road foreman's wage will rise from $37 an hour to approximately $40 an hour over the three years while a labourer or refuse disposal attendant's hourly wage would rise from $25 to 26.50. There are also other factors adding to the city's wage bill – an additional planner was hired as was a full-time executive assistant last year. City council is contemplating hiring a full-time bylaw enforcement officer while the leisure services department has included an additional seasonal parks worker in its preliminary budget. According to city corporate administrator Alisa Thompson at an upcoming committee of the whole meeting council will look at what the implication of the bylaw enforcement officer and extended hours for a city gardener would be. One possible scenario would be council having to raise taxes, as opposed to the freeze in rates which the city is considering in its preliminary budget. “We could raise taxes,” said Thompson. “We have to have a balanced budget ... [but] they don't have to have a tax increase, they could cut services.”
$403,737,000 or 30 per cent over last year. Dollar gains will come from residential buildings constructed last year and from commercial construction on what was raw land with city corporate administrator Alisa Thompson citing the new Kondola’s building on Keith Ave. as an example of the latter. Overall, tax revenue from new construction is being channelled into general revenue, but some of it will cover the wage increases in the city’s new three-year contract with its unionized workers and
wage increases for its non-union employees. Homeowners worried the average 30 per cent assessment jump in single family home values this year compared to last year would mean an increase in taxes will be at least partially put at ease about the new budget. “If your house [assessment] went up by 30 per cent we adjusted your rate and you will pay the same as last year. If it went up less than 30 per cent you will pay less than last year and if it went up more than 30 per cent it will go up
more,” said Thompson. She noted that assessments are based on values of homes which is calculated by the B.C. Assessment Authority and independent of the city. The city raised its residential tax rate by two per cent in each of the past two years. According to Thompson, the proposed budget will “hold the line on services” and focus on not raising taxes. Still, residents can expect to pay more for specific city services.
Cont’d Page A9
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ You don’t want this view CONST. TREVOR Mack is one of the RCMP officers who will be out watching and ticketing drivers who speed through playground zones, fail to stop at stop signs or park along yellow curbs and other traffic violations for the month of January. Here he is in the Suwilaawks school zone.
Literacy first
Booze in camp
Brave babes
Former teacher, principal remembered with new reading areas at school \COMMUNITY A10
Should a planned work camp near Terrace receive a liquor licence? \NEWS A13
Young skiers withstand harsh conditions for first fun race of the year \SPORTS A23