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The Rocky Mountain Goat News PM42164515
Thursday November 10th, 2016
Serving Valemount, McBride & the Robson Valley since 2010. Locally owned & operated.
Volume 7 Issue 45
Village to raise utility tax rates
by EVAN MATTHEWS
Local reps in A03 SD57?
The Village of Valemount’s administration has already started work on its 2017 budget, and for the taxpayer, it means an increase to utility tax rates. The Village is opting to raise the annual utility tax rate by 9.5 per cent in order to replenish the reserve accounts in case of emergency, according to Valemount’s Mayor, Jeannette Townsend. The annual rate will increase the residential rate by 9.5 per cent for the first nine years — equating to a average annual dollar increase
of $28, or $2.34 per month — and then 3 per cent per year for every year following. Being so small, all it would take is for one minor thing to break, according to the mayor, and there isn’t much money in the reserves to fix whatever has happened, pointing to McBride’s current deficit, which was attributed to the lagoon road washout. “It broke them. It really whacked them,” says Townsend. “Every municipality in Canada is having to go through the same thing right now.” The Village is offering a eight per cent rate discount for full payment of the taxpayer’s
McBride’s miniature marvel
annual rate before Mar. 10. The current water and sewage concerns the Village is planning proactively for, described to council by Chief Financial Officer, Lori McNee, include the deterioration of the water and sewer infrastructure (which is roughly 40-years-old), new provincial water testing reporting requirements, new standards and codes for tradespeople, worker’s certification and operating cost. “Salaries go up, wages go up, supplies for the water and sewer plants cost money,” says Townsend. “This is without anything even going wrong.” Cont’d on A07
What is affordable? A06
Film in preproduction A10
Local veteran reflects A12 Listings on A23! P15!
Hidden in the McBride Train Station’s baggage room is a little treasure that took almost two years to complete. More on A02.
Valemount’s quarterly budget update by EVAN MATTHEWS
Prince George
In review
A22
The Village of Valemount released its quarterly budget numbers, and there is a lot of green all across the board. Everything is on track to balance by year’s end, according to Valemount’s Chief Financial Officer, Lori McNee. There were very few interesting lines of note on the quarterly budget this go around, but a few lines do draw in a reader’s eye more so than others. The Village has received $4,500 in additional cemetery revenue this year, McNee says, unfortunately due to more burials and people purchasing plots. The Village, too, has issued a higher number of licenses and permits this year, due
to more development in the Village than anticipated by the administration. Continuing to find money, the budget reads the Village has collected 159 per cent of its taxation revenue — meaning it collected more taxes than it needed or was entitled to — but the CFO says there is a logical explanation. The added taxation revenue, according to McNee, is because the Village still has tax revenue waiting to be submitted to different taxation authorities, so the percentage should drop closer to 100 per cent — where it should be — by the year’s end. One line of the budget also reads, “B.C. Hydro,” and says Valemount is over budget by $105,000 (146 per cent), and says the Village has received more money than it anticipated.
Photo: Glen Frear
However, it’s not a matter of being over budget, McNee says, but rather being given a grant, which isn’t necessarily included in the initial operating budget. B.C. Hydro issues grant payments as per its own schedule, according to McNee, and the grants are based on the generating capacity of each location’s generating facility. Valemount receives its grant payment for the Mica generating facility, McNee says, and B.C. Hydro increased the capacity at Mica by adding a new generating unit, so they increased the grant accordingly. Valemount’s quarterly budget report suggests Valemount is on track to meet its targets, and the Village is financially sound.