Page A8 Thursday, January 13, 2022
Vernon Morning Star
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The impact of rising assessment values
OUR HISTORY IN PICTURES
A view of Vernon’s Empress Theatre offering promotional activities in celebration of the release of Disney’s “Snow White” in 1938. In the foreground are members of the Rover’s Trumpet Band. (Museum and Archives of Vernon Photo #567)
Next summer is coming Teresa Proudlove Armstrong Spallumcheen Climate Action
Most of us living in the B.C.’s Okanagan are grateful this summer’s searing heat, apocalyptic wildfires, and weeks of the worst air quality in the world is over…or is it? According to the Regional District of North Okanagan’s 2020 Climate Projections for the Okanagan Region report: “Climate change will cause significant changes in the region. Based on these changes, there is a need to plan for more intense and hotter fires, increasing water shortages, more smoke days, and a greater likelihood of spring flooding. These changes will have serious consequences on ecosystems, communities and the economy.” We have heard the dire warnings of how gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, animal feedlot farming and industrial agriculture are exponentially adding to the “greenhouse” effect causing the earth’s temperature to rise. The rising temperatures in turn, increase climate disasters. According to the UN Secretary-General, the latest report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is “a code
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red for humanity…Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible.” This calamitous news is not a climate action motivator for many people who already feel burdened with daily life in these unprecedented times. It is easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed. Yet, next summer is coming…climate crisis events are escalating. For us, the White Rock Lake wildfire, heat and smoke (and the hundreds of other raging wildfires across B.C.) was a huge motivator. The difference between knowing about climate crisis – and experiencing catastrophic threat to one’s own home, family and community – is life changing. As Paul Hawken says in his new book: Regeneration Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation: “As climate change becomes experiential rather than conceptual…the movement to reverse the climate crisis will likely become the largest movement in history.” Our near two-month experience of extreme heat, smoke, drought and wildfires viscerally thrust the reality of the climate emergency upon us this summer. My husband and I
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joined the call to form the Armstrong Spallumcheen Climate Action group. Often, I hear people say, “I don’t know enough to do something about climate action.” We do know enough. We know we want clean air/water, forests, food security and a safe future for our children, grandchildren, and precious planet. What can one little individual do? We continue to reuse everything we can, recycle properly, buy organic food and sustainably farmed meat (and eat less meat), grow our own food/chickens, travel/ buy less, use our own bags/water/coffee containers, etc. Before buying anything, Paul Hawken suggests we ask ourselves: “Does it heal the future, or steal the future?” The David Suzuki Foundation offers powerful ideas for taking climate action at personal and governmental levels. There are letter-writing tools and tools to help us to start climate action conversations without judging others or adding to the world despair. As Jane Goodall says, “When millions of people make ethical choices every day, cumulatively this moves us toward a better world.” A world worth saving.
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Homeowners across British Columbia are still reeling after seeing their 2022 assessment values go through the roof. Here in the Okanagan Valley, assessments for residential properties are more than 30 per cent higher than they were a year ago. Many other areas also saw marked increases in assessed values. The reason for these higher values, according to BC Assessment, is a robust housing market. While the thought of a massive assessment increase is concerning for some, the higher assessment values don’t always result in a corresponding tax hike. By the same token, if property values provincewide had shown a dramatic decrease, it would not mean property taxes would be reduced. Assessment values are a factor in calculating property taxes, but a far more important factor is the municipal budget, as determined by the mayor and council or the members of a regional district board. If the municipal budget shows an overall increase or decrease, this will be reflected in the tax bill — along with school and hospital taxes which make up the bulk of the bill. Still, the assessment values provide some important information and should be studied carefully. BC Assessment bases its values on the selling price a property would have had as of July 1 in any given year. This in turn is based on real estate sales in the various communities around the province. The higher assessment values this year indicate that home buyers were willing to pay significantly more for houses last year than the year before. This is good news for those looking to sell a home and downsize, but terrible for those looking to move into a larger home, or for first-time homebuyers who may find themselves priced out of the market in their communities. Housing in B.C. has always been pricey and the pandemic has only supercharged a housing market some thought was too hot already. The skyrocketing cost of housing has long-reaching impacts and the 2022 BC Assessment spike is just one among many others. Discussions about housing affordability are needed, especially as prices continue their rapid ascent. Some of these discussions have already started, with councils examining carriage houses, secondary suites and the impact of shortterm vacation rentals. Decisions made now will affect housing price trends in the future. As for property tax increases, that is a separate matter — one to address when councils and regional district boards prepare their budgets in the weeks and months ahead. — Black Press
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