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MARCH 13, 2019 | Volume 32 No. 21
WEATHER
WEDNESDAY SPARE A KIDNEY?
IN THE SWIM
Sunny High 8 C Low -3 C
Kamloops Classic swimmers shine at provincial meet
SNOW REPORT Sun Peaks Resort Mid-mountain: 148 cm Alpine: 188 cm Harper Mountain Total snow: 166 cm
Vic Morin and Colleen Bruce have good reason to plug World Kidney Day
COMMUNITY/A12
SPORTS/A21
Final city tax hike set at 2.96 per cent SEAN BRADY
STAFF REPORTER
sbrady@kamloopsthisweek.com
Steve Kuzak was walking his two dogs along the South Thompson River near Pioneer Park on Friday when one of the canines, a Bernese named Lucy, fell through the ice and into the cold water. Kuzak tried to rescue his pet, but he, too, fell through the ice. That spurred passerby Graham Agassiz and others into action, with Agassiz — a world-renowned mountain biker — grabbing a ladder from his vehicle and using it to help rescue Kuzak and Lucy. The civilian heroes were soon joined by members of Kamloops Fire Rescue, who brought Kuzak to shore. “My husband is doing really well,” Nancy Kuchta told KTW. “He’s very traumatized by what happened, though, understandably. It was really scary.” Kuchta said the second dog, a dachshund named Luigi, was spooked and ran free for about an hour before they could catch him.
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Kamloops council has decided the fate of 13 supplemental budget items and city staff have now determined the city’s final provisional tax rate: 2.96 per cent. For owners of average-assessed properties — which is $403,000 — that rate means an increase of $62 on their annual tax bill, an amount Mayor Ken Christian said council should be proud of achieving. “That’s a pretty good number in 2019,” Christian said. “I know that there are people in our community who will not accept that figure, but I think council has done
a very good job getting us to this stage.” The supplemental expenditures (requests brought forward by staff and the community) approved by council include funding for: • hiring an additional full-time building inspector; • removing derelict buildings at Tournament Capital Ranch; • creating an asset management fund; • reviewing boat launches in the city; • building a Kamloops Fire Rescue training centre; • creating and developing a site plan for a cultural centre that will open in the former Stuart Wood elementary downtown.
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