THE ARTIST AT WORK
TUESDAY
Quilla Decker concentrates as she uses a sharp tool to etch out her drawing during the weeked’s Family Art Saturday at the Kamloops Art Gallery. The event included printmaking activities in gallery studios and a brief tour of exhibitions. Also taking part was Kamloops-based artist Donald Lawrence and his handmade camera obscura. To view many more photos from Family Art Saturday, go online to kamloopsthisweek.com and click on the “Community” tab. Allen Douglas/KTW
K A M L O O P S
THIS WEEK
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City needs to recoup $1 million in revenue By Andrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
Slow than projected growth, reduced returns from investments and lower property assessments for some of the city’s major ratepayers will leave the city with about $1 million in revenue to make up as it prepares the 2014 budget. At a public-input session in the McArthur Island Sports Lounge on Monday, Nov. 4, Kamloops’ finance director Sally Edwards said the city is facing a few extra challenges this coming year. While the budget would typically include about $1.2-million in new taxation from growth, Edwards said it’s looking like it will only account for around $900,000. The city’s investments are down about $400,000 and transit
revenues were also lower than projected for 2013. Edwards said the closure of the A line at the Domtar pulp mill will also mean a lower assessment for the pulp mill — and fewer tax dollars flowing into city hall. It’s not the only property in the city asking to have its assessment lowered this year. Edwards said $1 million is a challenge to make up, but noted there may be cuts to city expenses that can offset the revenue losses without service cuts. “We’re just making everybody aware that these are the challenges going into ’14,” she said.
If you want something done right . . . Their water-park plan did not make city council’s to-do list in 2013, but a group of Westsyde
residents think they have found a new way to get the project off the ground. Robert Kelly of the Westsyde Community Development Society was at the city’s second 2014 budget-consultation meeting to pitch a new plan and price tag for the water park his group wants to build in Westsyde Centennial Park. “It’s the most talked about thing,” Kelly said. “There are a lot of young families in Westsyde.” When council last looked at the plan while considering items for the 2013 supplemental budget, the water park was expected to cost about $600,000, which the city would spread over two years. Councillors opted to not fund the project, but did agree to set aside $20,000 per year for the work.
Since then, Kelly said, the society has managed to get the price of the park down to $347,000. To sweeten the pot, the society is offering to complete the first phase of the project — a heated washroom and changing area — in the spring of 2014. “We have a contractor lined up, our own contractor who’s willing to work with us, and we think we can get some economies of scale,” Kelly said. He said the project would cost about $100,000. The society has $25,000 in the bank and would also ask the city to cover some costs for supplies. It is also expecting some materials needed for the project to come via donations. While the project would still cost the city money, Kelly said it will be less than if the city tried to build the water park itself.
“The city has to go through a rigorous tendering process and that involves necessarily unions and rules and regulations and policies,” he said. “If we do it ourselves, we don’t necessarily have to follow all those requirements.” Once phase one is complete, Kelly said the society might encourage donors to chip in to help finish the water park. The building will also be open to Westsyders using the park’s ice rink in the winter. Kamloops city council will consider public comments from the two public-input meetings (the first was held on Oct. 29 at Interior Savings Centre) on Nov. 26. A third public-input meeting will be held at ISC on Feb. 25, 2014, with city council scheduled to set the 2014 tax rate on April 8, 2014.
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