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DE K A M L O O P S
THURSDAY
Thursday, March 14, 2013 X Volume 26 No. 21
Kamloops, B.C., Canada X 30 cents at Newsstands
THIS WEEK
The Duff Man returns to Sun Peaks Resort this weekend Page A23 Thompson River Publications Partnership Ltd.
City decides on $78 as 2013 tax hike By Andrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
The average Kamloops homeowner will pay about $60 more in property taxes this year. With earlier increases to sewer and garbage fees, the overall price tag for living in Kamloops rises by $78 for owners of an average-assessed home, which is $344,000. In a special budget meeting that ran into overtime on Tuesday morning (March 12), city council approved a 3.55 per cent tax hike for 2013. But, while seven out of nine councillors IN AND OUT: approved the increase, no A $19,000 streetlight is a one at the table seemed go; a $30,000 dog park happy with the outcome. “I’m not happy with remains a dream. it by any means,” said TCC RATES TO RISE?: Mayor Peter Milobar, who called this year’s Coun.Tina Lange thinks the budget the toughest he city is not charging enough has faced in a decade. for memberships. “I’m not happy getting the oil changed in my truck, LOWER OUR TAXES: either, but I get it done.” A group of businesses Council went into Tuesday’s session facing wants the city to drop the a base tax hike of 3.78 industrial-tax rate they pay. per cent, with a list of supplementary items that would have pushed the increase above seven per cent. Councillors rejected requests for dog parks, streetlights, extra cash for sidewalk repairs and a fund for track replacements at the Tournament Capital Centre, and opted to fund the single-largest staff request — $905,000 for renovations at the former John Tod elementary to house the new North Shore Community Centre — through a reserve fund rather than through a tax increase this year. Council also agreed to spend $375,000 per year on repairs to the TCC, including a $340,000 roof replacement for the Canada Games Pool.
CITY BUDGET 2013
Turn to page A15 for more on this year’s budget:
Geologist Donald Bouffard shows some of his fossilized artifacts to Beattie students. Clockwise from bottom left: Lily Prince, Shanna MacDougall, Lena Heinen, Evangeline Kampman, Emily Waterman and Klaske Toering take a look. Below: Jordan Wallace takes a closer look at a piece of dinosaur egg. Dave Eagles/KTW
TOUCHING THE PAST By Dale Bass STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
There’s something oh-so-cool about holding a tiny piece of an egg in your hand and learning it’s probably at least 55-million years old. What’s even cooler? Holding the tiny piece of amber with the even tinier bug encased inside — or touching the fossilized squid pieces. Maybe it’s seeing an almost perfect fossil of a fish that swam about 50-million years ago. If the whoas!, oohs!, ahhhs! and wows! were any indication, the coolest part of all was the visit to the Grade 1/2 class by Don Bouffard.
The retired geologist was at Beattie School of the Arts recently, regaling the students in Tammy Kawa’s class with stories about dinosaurs as he passed around parts of the collection he readily admits is “pretty big.” His presentation was part of Science World British Columbia’s Scientists and Innovators in the Schools program that takes real-world scientists into classrooms to share their experiences and help bring science alive for the students. Bouffard is also a volunteer with the Kamloops Exploration Group and has done many presentations at the Big Little Science Centre. X See ARE THEY COOL? A13
X See BUDGET RATIFIED A15