DCC ASAP

DearMayorLeonard&MembersofCouncil:

The public engagement sessions to discuss proposed increases and new Reserve funds from general municipal taxation were interesting but seem to have only increased the tax hikes proposed for 2023 and four years to follow. All of the proposed new revenue to operate the Municipality and build Reserve funds is from one source only - the local property tax payers

A recent article in the Bowen Island Undercurrent suggests there will be a net increase of $20 per average household for a net municipal portion of the property tax increase of $400. With projected increases of 9.5% for each of the following four years in the Five Year Financial Plan, there will be an actual increase of over 52% for the general municipal portion of our property tax bills

The assessed value of properties increased in January 2022 by 6%, based on sale prices as of July 1, 2022. The mil rate for 2022 (general municipal) was 1.8784, or $1.84 for every thousand dollars of assessed value If the mil rate stays the same, the general municipal portion of my own property tax bill will rise from $2,280 in 2022 to $3,747 by 2027! And all other areas of local property taxation are rising as well.

Bowen Island has collected a Community Parks Acquisition Development Cost Charge (Bylaw No 905, 1998) since inception, carried over from GVRD days, but this only brings in $1,100 for each lot created by a new plan of subdivision, plus $1,100 for each additional dwelling unit on a parcel created by subdivision.

As tax collectors, Bowen Island Municipality since 2022 has also collected a Regional Transportation DCC for all Building Permits and subdivisions approved on behalf of TransLink; $2,990 per single family house, $2,485 per duplex unit, and so on. This money leaves Bowen.

A Finance department Report to Council April 20, 2015, indicated “Council has initiated the creation of a development financing strategy as a key priority for 2015” with a workshop led by Urban Systems following Eight years and many subdivision approvals later, there is no strategy.

Mayor and Council, please initiate a Development Cost Charge Bylaw to collect funds for Bowen Island to cover parks devel- opment, road, water, and sewer infrastructure The City of Surrey recently adopted a Bylaw to increase their DCC’s by 10%, netting almost $40,000 per new dwelling unit to pay the infrastructure costs related to new development We have the background studies and documents to justify these new charges (Bowen Island Parks Master Plan, Cove Bay Water Treatment Plant, Snug Cove Sewage Treatment Plant, Bowen Bay, Eagle Cliff and Tunstall Bay Water Storage Tank studies among others).

I trust that we have a professional staff and dedicated Mayor and Council ready to take action to get our municipal operations back on a firm footing Please take the next necessary steps to ensure that sustaining our critical systems will be done on a fair and equitable cost sharing basis

- Bill Granger

Mary Selman passed away peacefully at the end of January 2023, surrounded by her three children She was 94 years old

Mary’s life was closely linked to Bowen Island from her youth in the 1930s when her family enjoyed regular summer vacations in rented cottages at Mount Gardner She remembered fondly going out in a rowboat with her brothers and sister, secure in the knowledge that they would be able to catch enough grilse for breakfast any time they went out

As an adult, she returned to Bowen, with her husband Gordon and her growing family They rented a couple of times but in 1956 they bought a lot “ at the end of the road” in Smugglers’ Cove at Hood Point At that time, there was no car ferry and they had to ship the materials for their house to Snug Cove by freighter and then repackage them all so they could be hauled on a trailer to their lot They built a small panabode in the spring of 1957 and it became a focal point for family life for the next 55 years Every weekend from Easter to November the 11th , and all summer, the family would be at “ camp ” with Gordon commuting in the summer months.

Slowly the area around Smugglers’ Cove was developed Mary and Gordon’s was the second house in the Cove after the Harveys’ (later the Ledinghams’ and now the McCalls’) The Harveys and Ledinghams were wonderful neighbours who generously shared their local knowledge including the best places for fishing and crabbing Over the years, other lots in the Cove were purchased and developed, with large year-round homes replacing many of the cabins

In 1992 Mary and Gordon completed their own year-round home on the lot next to the family cabin They lived there for 21 years Mary was always involved in community and in those years she took up golfing and painting and got involved with the Bowen Island Library and Arts community She and Gordon were active in book discussion groups and started more than one Children and grandchildren shared the family cottage next door, continuing to enrich the family tradition on Bowen Mary and Gordon moved back to the mainland in 2013 Gordon lived until 2018 Mary lived her final years at Sunrise of Vancouver, a seniors residence The last of her generation in the family, Mary is lovingly remembered by immediate and extended family She enriched the lives of her children, Julia, Mark, and Jan, who celebrate her life and value the lifelong loving support she so generously offered Mary also cared deeply for their partners, Patrick Robinson, Jan Selman, and Curtis Palmer Her grandchildren, Richard and Laura Selman, Gordon and Anna Robinson, and Zachary Palmer, brought her much joy and she welcomed and enjoyed her five great grand children She is lovingly missed, and celebrated