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THE BULLETIN PROUDLY SERVING KIMBERLEY AND AREA SINCE 1932 | Vol. 84, Issue 56 | www.dailybulletin.ca
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“It’s time to reduce flat tax” - Goodwin C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
Mayor Don McCormick has every right to bring the flat tax issue back to Council next week, says Coun. Kent Goodwin — as mayor that’s his prerogative — but he’s not sure anything will change. Goodwin led the charge on reducing the flat tax by $80 this year, and a further $80 for the next ten years until it’s been eliminated. That vote passed Council last week with Goodwin, Nigel Kitto, Darryl Oakley and Bev Middlebrook voting for it. Mayor Don McCormick is against the move, fearing it will lead less people to want to JODI L’HEUREUX PHOTO The Kimberley Dynamiters are headed back to the KIJHL championship for the second consecutive year. The Dynamiters claimed a build in Kimberley, and 3-1 victory over the Beaver Valley Nitehawks in Game 5 of the Kootenay Conference final in front of 1,155 fans at the Kimberley Civic he has indicated he’s Centre to advance on Monday. Game 1 of the KIJHL final is set for Saturday, March 26 at the Civic Centre. See Page 9 for the full story. bringing the issue back to ask Council to reconsider. Goodwin says he has good reason to want the
Watershed logging issues being resolved C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
The City of Kimberley will be sending a letter of appreciation to Columbia River Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald to thank him for his efforts on behalf of the city over their recent concerns regarding logging in the Mark Creek watershed. “I feel we should thank him for the work he has done,” said Coun. Darryl Oakley. “He went beyond what was required and helped Kimberley out.” Macdonald met with Minister Thomson to make him aware of the city’s concerns, and Thomson then set up a meeting with BC Timber Sales staff, both provincial and local, which. Macdonald met with both those groups.
The issue arose when Council became concerned with some proposed cutblocks in Mark Creek that they feared would directly affect water quality in Kimberley and potentially lead to the need for a filtration plant. In addition, BC Timber Sales had applied to the province for three cutblocks that they did not include in information sent in a letter to the City of Kimberley. Council voted at their regular meeting on February 9, 2016 to send a letter to BC Timber Sales in opposition to the proposed cut blocks. They also reached out to Macdonald for assistance. “We had a couple of discussions with him (MLA Macdonald) and he certainly knows our feelings on this,” said Mayor Don McCormick,
who then told Council that it appeared the situation was being resolved. “BC Timber Sales seems to have settled back in and are negotiating in good faith with the watershed committee, which is all we expected in the first place.” Coun. Albert Hoglund, who has sat on the watershed committee for years said the situation was brought to a head by a change in management at BC Timber Sales. “BC Timber Sales always had two people on the watershed committee and they knew how it operated. The new guy just said, ‘here’s the plan’, not realizing they always brought it to the committee first. If the committee had concerns, changes were made by BC Timber Sales.
They listened to us. The new manager did nothing wrong, he just didn’t do what was usually done in the past with the committee. Hopefully, it’s behind us.” But Hoglund wared that BC Timber Sales was proposing a lot of new cut blocks. “It’s not just the pine beetle they are after anymore, they are going to log.” BC Timber Sales (BCTS) was founded in 2003 with a mandate to provide the cost and price benchmarks for timber harvested from public land in British Columbia. Through 12 Business Areas and an operational presence in 33 locations, BCTS manages some 20 percent of the provincial Crown allowable annual cut.
Coun. Kent Goodwin flat tax eliminated, mainly because owners of lower income properties are paying an unfair proportion of taxes. “Since the early 1990s, we’ve been taxing lower value properties more and giving high value properties a break,” he said. “The province never intended for the flat tax to be a major part of taxation. See page 5
Dirtbag Fest returns C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
Dirtbag weekend looms, Kimberley. The two Dirtbag shows on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26 give one and all a chance to relish the dirtbag lifestyle, where the nine to five grind is exchanged for a life of adventure. The festival offers a selection of film, images and stories by Dirtbags, those who are willing to sacrifice and drop at a moments notice: their
jobs, their family, their income and their homes in search of adventure. It will feature 15 short films and slideshows filmed or produced locally. They embody the true source of inspiration for dirtbags, which, at the end of the day, is simply having a good time. The films range from the quirky to the serious; from the silly and fun to downright epic. See page 5