The average household in Area C will have to dig a little deeper to pay $37 more in taxes to the regional district this year.
That was the news delivered at a public meeting on February 11 at the Oliver Community Centre.
Only four people attended, not including the media.
Regional district finance manager Sandy Croteau presented the 2015 tax requisition report, which shows that Area C will pay $103,755 more this year (from $1.3 million last year to $1.4 million this year).
Croteau said the biggest cost impacting rural Oliver’s requisition is the Frank Venables servicing agreement ($46,519) that takes up nearly half of Area C’s budget increase.
The renovation of the regional district office in Penticton is also impacting the budget. The total cost is $436,000, but $210,000 will be covered by reserves. That leaves $225,000 that taxpayers must come up with, which works out to a one-time tax increase of $4 per household, Croteau said.
Other capital projects include Gallagher Lake sewer and Loose Bay water system, but Croteau said these will be funded by gas tax monies.
Other increases in the budget for Area C are parks and recreation services (up $6,196) and Willowbrook fire protection (up $7,378). Croteau said the regional district is starting the process of standardizing the stipend that all firefighters receive. Currently, members of the Willowbrook Fire Department do not get paid like other firefighters do, but that will change.
Other factors impacting the budget include a $100,000 decrease in the prior year’s surplus, a $30,000 request for a Penticton airport study, and $12,000 for commercial recycling.
A tax notice breakdown includes $446 for Area C taxes, $864 to the province, $75 to the hospital, $112 to the Oliver Fire Protection District, and $58 for other boards.
The estimated tax rate for 2015 is $2.17 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Area C director Terry Schafer said the turnout at the meeting was a little disappointing.
“The two individuals who did attend weren’t shy about asking questions and I appreciated that.”
Schafer said most people realize that the increase in their tax bill is mainly due to last fall’s referendum on servicing the new Frank Venables Theatre.
“I think it’s important for everyone to realize that of an average tax notice of $1,555.13, only $578.90 of that is RDOS related,” Schafer noted. “The rest goes to other government services like school, fire protection and policing.”
Area C resident Peter Ginter raised a concern about how bylaw enforcement is carried out and what the money is used for.
He referred to an unsightly property on Green Lake Road and asked why he has to document his complaint in a letter with a neighbour’s corroboration before anything is done.
“Why is the bylaw officer not going to investigate? If they want me and a neighbour to do their job, we’re not getting paid for it,” Ginter said.
The taxpayer said the officer should be investigating before residents have to jump through all these bureaucratic hoops.
Lyonel Doherty
Oliver Chronicle
