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Your top 5 for the weekend LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
THURSDAY MARCH 14, 2019
Y O U R
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GG visits New West It turns out, Julie Payette the astronaut is a lot more popular than Julie Payette the Governor General to a group of kindergartners. Payette was in New Westminster last Friday touring the city before speaking at Innovation Week’s Women in STEAM symposium. Her tour included a stop at École Qayqayt Elementary, where Payette met with district staff and school trustees for a short roundtable discussion about the district’s new lunch program. Following the discussion, Payette spent time with students. Most weren’t too interested in her current role as the country’s Governor General, but they had plenty of questions once they found out she had been to space. “Have you ever seen any aliens?” one student asked. Payette said she hadn’t and that the only people who travelled with her were the other astronauts – there was no one else around. Payette wrapped up her visit by signing a photo for the students before she headed over to Anvil Centre for Innovation Week. – Cayley Dobie
SIGN HERE: Governor General of Canada Julie Payette signs an autograph on Friday during her visit to École Qayqayt Elementary. PHOTO CAYLEY DOBIE
TAXES
Budget meeting hears residents’ complaints Theresa McManus tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
Longtime New Westminster residents Christopher Bell and Bill Zander had some company in council chambers Monday night. Bell, a Moody Park resident, and Zander, who lives in the West End, are often the only residents who appear before council during the annual opportunity to be heard about the budget. However, several other residents attended the March 11 council meeting and expressed concerns about this year’s proposed
5.28-per-cent property tax increase, which includes a 0.5-percent capital levy to help pay for the future Canada Games Pool and Centennial Community Centre redevelopment project. “I would say the city has failed in all aspects to comply with the Community Charter’s demands for process and public consultation,” Bell said. “I would say the public process of this financial plan has been a catastrophe.” Bell said there’s been an “absolute lack” of public engagement in the development of the financial plan, and he asked the city to ex-
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tend the process by a month. Following a staff and council workshop about the budget on Feb. 28, the city released a staff report on the financial plan on March 5 and accepted feedback until March 8. Colleen Ponzini, the city’s acting chief financial officer, made a presentation about the budget on Monday, at which time community members were able to comment. Ponzini said the bylaw will be brought to council for three readings on April 8 and adopted on April 29. She said the city needs to stick
with those timelines in order to adopt the financial plan by the province’s May 15 deadline. Zander said the city’s growth comes at a “great cost” in the form of taxes because it requires infrastructure such as roads, public facilities, schools, greenspace, environmental sustainability and other livability issues. He said the federal government can’t keep downloading onto municipal governments because local taxpayers are being “put to the wall” with increasing taxes. “What is happening, to be blunt about it, is that the taxpayers are
becoming fodder to reckless speculation and development,” he said. A New West resident, who said he’s on a fixed income, expressed concern that tax hikes are hard on low-income and fixed-income residents. He fears tax increases will make the city less affordable for renters, as landlords will have to raise rents and people on fixed incomes will have to move into smaller places or out of the city. “It’s just not affordable for lowincome and fixed-income families,” he said. Continued on page 5
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