TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2015
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ICONIC OPENING
CALL IT A TOTAL REBUILD FOR GENS
Crowds gather for official opening of Canadian Tire
Coach liking effort despite a losing streak that has now reached 10 games
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2016 PARKSVILLE BUDGET TALKS
Expensive proposals City property owners could face 4.5% tax hike next year JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews.com
An all-weather sports field for $2 million. Rainwater-gathering cisterns for $560,000. An assistant for the fire department, a couple of bylaw officers and a few more new staff members for at least $400,000/year in total salaries. These are just some of the big-ticket items Parksville city council saw for the fist time last week as it works on a budget for 2016 and beyond. Finance manager Pamela Lovegrove presented council with a draft provisional financial plan for the years 2016-2020 on Wednesday that calls for a 4.5 per cent tax increase in 2016 and four per cent in the following four years. Parksville property owners saw a 1.5 per cent tax increase in 2015. A 4.5 per cent increase would mean an average homeowner in the city would pay about $150 more in property taxes in 2016 than in 2015. The numbers — and the amount of spending on various items included in this draft — are certain to change as council digs into the details over the next few months. The 2016 budget doesn’t have to be finalized until May 16, 2016. Members of the public were invited to ask questions and provide input at Wednesday’s meeting — only two did from a gallery of six people. There will be a number of opportunities for the public to provide input on the 2016 budget in the months ahead. The next chance will be Nov. 12 (6 p.m. at city hall). Aside from the 4.5 per cent tax increase, a number of items in the 2016 draft budget caught the attention of councillors and others in attendance. See CLUBHOUSE FOR PARK?, page A9
CANDACE WU PHOTOS
TRICK OR TREAT AT QUALICUM BEACH BUSINESSES: Joanne McNeil gave out handfuls of candy to trick-or-treaters on Saturday afternoon in Qualicum Beach, where hundreds of families flocked to celebrate Halloween in style.
NEW LOOK FOR PROVINCIAL CONSTITUENCIES
MLA’s boundaries keep changing CANDACE WU
news@pqbnews.com
Central Vancouver Islanders will have a new riding in the next provincial election, Mid Island-Pacific Rim. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton tabled legislation last week to adopt the recommendations of the latest B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission. For MLA Scott Fraser that means another boundary change. If Fraser wins the upcoming provincial election, he will have represented three different ridings over four terms without moving an inch
Get Ready For
since he took office in 2005. “I’ll be the only MLA to ever represent the constituency of AlberniPacific Rim… Nobody else will be able to make that claim,” Fraser told The NEWS with a laugh Saturday morning. When he was first elected in 2005 Fraser represented a riding called Alberni-Qualicum, which was changed in 2009 to the current Alberni-Pacific Rim riding and will be changed again in time for the next election in 2017 to the Mid Island-Pacific Rim riding. Fraser confirmed he intends to run in the next election and said
he doesn’t question the boundary changes. According to the commission’s final report released in September, the Alberni-Pacific Rim district was by far the smallest on Vancouver Island by population. It is 18 per cent under the provincial population average and has projections to grow at a slower rate in the near future. Meanwhile, the neighbouring Comox Valley riding is 22 per cent above the provincial population average. See CUMBERLAND, page A9
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