EVERGREEN LINE FUNDING
Other funding sources, including vehicle levy, also in the works By Jeff Nagel BLACK PRESS
Call it the two-cent solution. That’s how much extra Metro Vancouver motorists will pay for a litre of gas at the pumps to help fund TransLink’s commitment to build the $1.4-billion Evergreen Line to Coquitlam. “Two cents per litre from gas taxes is how we think
our contribution should be made,” West Vancouver Mayor and mayors council vice-chair Pamela Goldsmith-Jones said Wednesday. The proposed measure — increasing the gas tax take for TransLink from a current 15 cents to 17 cents effective next April — has the agreement of the provincial government. see GAS G S TAX,, page g 4
An extra two cents a litre for gas is proposed to pay for the Evergreen Line and other transit improvements, plus a possible vehicle levy.
TRI-CITY NEWS FILE PHOTO
2 cents more for gas
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Pay hikes for Metro board Each mayor’s salary hike jacks all regional payouts higher By Jeff Nagel BLACK PRESS
JENNIFER GAUTHIER/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Members of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team cordoned off a neighbourhood in the Ranch Park area of Coquitlam Wednesday to investigate what police say was a targeted hit against an as yet unnamed individual.
Victim targeted, say police By Gary McKenna THE TRI-CITY NEWS
A man found murdered on a wooded pathway in the quiet Ranch Park area of Coquitlam Wednesday was well-known to police, according to members of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. Police would not confir m whether the man was affiliated with a gang but IHIT spokesperson Sgt. Jennifer Pound said investigators have found evidence suggesting the death was a targeted homicide, making it the first murder of the year in the
Tri-Cities. The individual’s identity had not been released by The Tri-City News’’ deadline yesterday, pending notification of next of kin. Witnesses in the area told IHIT they heard gun shots or firecrackers at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday night; however no 911 call was made at the time, Pound said. Coquitlam RCMP were on the scene at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning and IHIT was called in at around 9:30 a.m. Investigators believe the man was killed at the location where he was found but Pound said she
could not confirm the cause of death. “It all comes down to the autopsy confirming it,” Pound said. “We as the police can’t confirm what ultimately took this man’s life. We are not going to speak to that.” The body was located on a pathway between Spuraway Avenue and Meadowbrook elementary school near the intersection of Ranch Park Way.
see AREA CANVASSED, CANVASSED, page 13 3
Civic politicians who sit on Metro Vancouver’s board or one of its committees quietly pocketed a modest pay hike this spring. They’re now paid $330 per meeting instead of $322. And that stipend doubles for meetings that run longer than four hours. The 2.5-% increase happened automatically because a Metro bylaw, passed a few years ago to end the bad optics of politicians voting on their own pay, requires the meeting fees to be recalculated each year according to a formula. The director fees are pegged to the median (mid-point) of Metro Vancouver mayors’ salaries. That means every increase in any mayor’s pay over the last year increases the median and ratchets the regional meeting rate higher. The city that tugged regional fees up the most was Port Coquitlam, where Mayor Greg Moore’s salary soared 27% this year to $85,418. Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan got a $16,500 raise (17%) to $114,031. Maple Ridge Mayor Er nie Daykin and Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson got increases of about
Coq. deal reached By Jeff Nagel BLACK PRESS
A tentative deal has been reached that would see holdout city Coquitlam approve Metro Vancouver’s new re gional g rowth strategy without changes, ending a months-long impasse. Coquitlam and Metro reps met again Tuesday and emerged with a set of assurances to settle the dispute that had been in mediated talks ahead of potential arbitration. see NO CHANGES, CHANGES, page 12
$10,000, bringing their mayoral salaries to $99,436 (up 10.8%) and $151,594 (up 8.3%) respectively. Moore defended his $18,000 pay increase as mayor, saying Port Coquitlam had frozen council salaries until last year, when it okayed a big increase to catch up with other cities.
see LIMITS IMPOSED IMPOSED,, page 15