KTW
FRIDAY
INTRODUCING THE NEW FRIDAY KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK
INSIDE TODAY
WHAT’S HAPPENING
THIS WEEKEND
X EXPANDED ARTS SECTION /A21
Friday, January 17, 2014 X Volume 27 No. 6 — Kamloops, B.C., Canada X 30 cents at Newsstands
SUSPICIOUS HOUSE FIRE WESTMOUNT HOME KNOWN AS ‘THE CRACK SHACK’ GUTTED BY FLAMES PAGE A3
TAXING NEW GOLD City looks west as it mines for fresh tax revenue
HANDING OVER HISTORY CITY SELLS CN BUILDING, BUT VOTE WAS CLOSE PAGE A7
ByAndrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
I
T WAS A SIMPLE REQUEST, BUT ONE WITH A BIG PRICE TAG. Last fall, representatives from Domtar, Lafarge, Tolko and Arclin told Kamloops city council they needed a major break on their property taxes, lest local industries fall behind their competitors in other cities. The industrial companies told council they want to see their mill rate — the amount of taxes they pay per $1,000 of assessed value — fall from about $78 to $40 in the next
two years, in line with what similar operations pay around the province. Coming not long after a line shutdown at Domtar that cost 125 pulp mill workers their jobs, the request received a sympathetic hearing at city hall — but it is not an easy one to grant. If council was to simply cut the industrial rate, city finance director Sally Edwards has estimated it will cost the city $3.5 million in tax revenue. If homeowners took up the slack, filling that gap in the ledgers would add another $120 to the average homeowner’s property-tax bill, the
Huge vats at New Afton’s New Gold operation help refine raw ore.
equivalent of a seven per cent property-tax hike. It’s not a scenario council-
lors appear to relish. Instead, the city is looking for a new heavy industry it can tax while decreasing the amount it will need to ask for from current ratepayers. Mayor Peter Milobar’s choice for the job is the New Afton mine, which lies to the west of the city’s legal boundaries. Were the city to annex the mine site (as well as some property between it and the current border), the extra tax revenue would be enough to drop the city’s mill rate for heavy industries to $52 per $1,000 of assessed value.
“It certainly wouldn’t solve the whole problem, but it would be a big step forward.” MAYOR PETER MILOBAR
X See PROVINCE A13
Expect more. Now in Kamloops at 453 Victoria St. West. JVÀ>vÌÃ > Ã «ÃÊUÊVÀ>vÌÃ > V Ã °V
LOOKING AT LITERACY ANNUAL WEEK TURNS YET ANOTHER PAGE PAGE A25