GOLDSTREAM Suspicious fire
Information sought in suspect trailer park fire Page A3
NEWS GAZETTE
COMMUNITY: Get your Caddy fix this Sunday /A15 SPORTS: Lightning fastball girls flash the bats /A16 HOMEFINDER: Shortage of certain properties seen /A22
OWNED AND OPERATED BY AN AWARD WINNING SOMMELIER & BEER JUDGE THANKS TO OUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT DURING OUR RESTORATION AFTER OUR RECENT FIRE. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP PLEASE CONTACT WWW.GOFUNDME.COM/ HAPPYHOMEBREWER
101-3145 JACKLIN ROAD 250-391-0830 WWW.HAPPYHOMEBREWER.COM
Friday, July 10, 2015
www.goldstreamgazette.com
Glad to be golfing
Ben Pawluk, left, and pal Koen Block, 10, teed it up to play a round at the Juan de Fuca Golf Course on Tuesday. They said they played the entire back half of the par-3 course using only a 9-iron and a putter, and it worked well. Don Descoteau/News Gazette staff
Langford property tax among lowest, despite recent hike Some businesses expect to feel the pinch of city’s 2015 tax lift Katherine Engqvist News Gazette staff
Property taxes were due July 2 and most Langford residents probably didn’t even notice the nearly four-per-cent increase on their bills. But at least one local business owner is fed up with what he believes to be an unfair tax burden.
“Langford has always kept their residential taxes low,” said Ron Cheeke, owner of the Log House Brew Pub and Liquor Planet. But that has come at a great cost to local businesses, he said, noting the high cost of doing business in Langford makes it hard to keep their doors open every month. “Langford built itself on commercial enterprise,” Cheeke said, adding the cash flow generated from the commercial sector has basically paid for most of the residential amenities and facilities in the area. “That’s driven the residential (development) out here.” Langford director of finance
Steve Ternent disagrees. “Probably just as much of our infrastructure has been paid for by amenity fees paid by developers,” he said. The so-called “bigbox” stores have also paid a significant amount, Ternent added, and usually they have to upgrade their surrounding infrastructure before building on a site. Commercial properties contribute about 37 per cent of the total tax collected by the city, with about 61 per cent coming from the residential sector. The remaining portion is received from farms, utilities, and other properties not classed as residential or commer-
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cial, Ternent said. He pointed out that while property tax increased about 3.9 per cent this year, Langford residents and businesses still generally pay less than other areas. Ternent attributes the tax hike, in part, to a slight decline in property assessment values – which are dependent on the market – and an increase in operating expenses. While Cheeke said his commercial property taxes have pretty much stayed the same over the past few years, he’s always felt they’ve been on the high end of the spectrum. “It may be time Langford took
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the forefront on tax incentives for business,” he said. “It’s really difficult to compare,” Ternent said, adding there isn’t much uniformity on commercial properties. But when looking at how much tax is applied to a specific assessed value, “generally speaking, we’re lower than the average.” Coun. Lillian Szpak confirmed that Langford has the third-lowest commercial property tax in the CRD, and the second-lowest residential property tax. PlEASE SEE: Businesses, Page A6
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