The Northern View, April 15, 2015

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PRINCE RUPERT VOL. 10 NO. 15

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

FREE

Weekend fire suspected to be arson

BIEBER FEVER HITS RUPERT Feature

Investigation ongoing into boat, house fire

Heart of our city: Chantal Bolton Page A5

BY SHAUN THOMAS PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View

Members of the Prince Rupert Fire Rescue Department had their hands full on Sunday morning battling a pair of fires on 11th Avenue East that appear to have been deliberately - Dave McKenzie set. When crews arrived at the house on the far end of 11th Avenue East just before 12:30 a.m. on April 12, they discovered the front of the home and a boat parked on the street engulfed in flames. “The fire is under investigation, but both fires are considered suspicious and we are working with the RCMP on the matter ... they were deliberate fires” said fire chief Dave McKenzie. See ARSON on Page A2

“They were deliberately set fires.”

Business Port traffic down slightly in 2015 Page A9 Martina Perry / The Northern View

Alanna Wightman and Jessica Bruce performing their dance to “Next to You” by Chris Brown and Justin Bieber at Friday night’s Grad Variety Show. For more on the show, see Page 13.

Council approves two per cent tax increase City looking for ideas to reverse trend of tax hikes

Sports Rainmakers fall to Kitimat counterparts Page A15

Community Show highlights British Invasion Page A26

BY MARTINA PERRY PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View

Although it has not been finalized yet, the City of Prince Rupert is incorporating a two per cent increase in municipal taxes for home and business owners into its 2015 budget deliberations. If approved by city council in May, the average homeowner in Prince Rupert will pay $38 more in municipal taxes this year. This would cover the $220,000 budget shortfall being projected, after the city’s revenues, operating costs and Community Enhancement Grant requests are taken into consideration. Originally, city staff was recommending council approve a mill rate increase of 1.9 per cent for residential and business owners, but

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“This town has been burdened with higher taxes every year.” - Barry Cunningham that was altered following the release of the B.C. Assessment Authority’s final property value assessments for 2015. The results show a downward change of $4 million in Prince Rupert’s assessments. With taxes being one of the city’s few revenue sources, the suggestion to once again increase taxpayers’ bills in 2015 didn’t come as a surprise when it appeared in the agenda of the April 7 meeting. For Coun. Blair Mirau, this is why the

city should consider new ways of bringing in revenue to help balance its budget each year that transcend the discussion about whether to raise taxes or cut services. “There are some really simple ideas that I would like to see us entertain,” Mirau said, adding this could include corporate naming right deals on city facilities or selling vacant residential lots under its possession. Council supported the idea, directing staff to investigate alternative ways for the city to bring in additional funds by the end of the year and report on the findings at the end of May. “This town has been burdened with higher taxes every year constantly. If we can find anywhere of alleviating some of those taxes on the residential and business community, I’m all for it,” said Coun. Barry Cunningham. See BUDGET on Page A2

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