UP FRONT 3
Check out the new school plans ARTS 13
Madness at Massey COMMUNITY 26
THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND
Teen wins scholarship THURSDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2018
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
Y O U R NEW WEST FINANCES
There’s more online at
SEE PAGE 25
NewWestRecord.ca
H O M E T O W N
5
N E W S P A P E R
CREATING ART OUT OF TRASH
City points finger at other levels of gov’t Downloading costs adds to financial pressures facing NewWestminster By Theresa McManus
tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
Senior governments are to blame for some of the rising costs being passed on to local taxpayers. That’s the gist of discussions in council chambers Monday night, when city council received a staff presentation and heard from community members about the city’s 2018 to 2022 financial plan, which proposes a 2.95 per cent property tax increase and a new one per cent capital levy. Taxpayers are also facing utility rate increases for water (six per cent), sewer (seven per cent) and solid waste (three per cent). Colleen Ponzini, the city’s acting chief financial officer, said wages and benefits represent about 67 per cent of the city’s operating budget. In addition to pressures on existing services and infrastructure resulting from a growing population and development, she said external factors such as downloading from senior levels of government also impact the budget. West End resident Bill
Zander said he doesn’t have a problem with any particular aspect of this year’s $124.1-million budget, but voiced concerns about the impact on some citizens. While his family can afford to pay the increases, he said there are a lot of people who are on fixed incomes or are living un-
THE ART OF FOUND OBJECTS:
Molly Marineau is on a mission to turn waste into art. Marineau, a Vancouver-based artist, has just started her stint as New Westminster’s first solid waste and recycling artist in residence. For five months, Marineau will be working out of the city’s engineering operations yard and Anvil Centre to take items she finds in the city’s solid waste and recycling streams and turn them into art – all with a mission to help start conversations about waste, the environment and our consumer culture. See page 24 of today’s paper for a story about Marineau and her work.
The four per cent for some of them (on fixed incomes), it might be a back breaker ...
der the poverty line. “The four per cent for some of them, it might be a back breaker because their landlord is going to raise their rent and they are already against a wall,” he said. “We can look at some real problems in this town and in this country if things keep going the way they are.” Zander said downloading from the provincial and federal Continued on page 6
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