By Roy Wood, Special to the Times Chronicle
The average residential tax rate will jump by $36.84 next year after Osoyoos council decided recently to accelerate the funding for its asbestos abatement plan from five years to three.
An environmental consultancy firm recently completed an assessment of the asbestos in all town-owned buildings along with an estimate of the cost of abatement of the material.
The total abatement estimates for all the buildings came in at about $1.9 million, although the bulk of the costs are years in the future and would be incurred in conjunction with the renovation or demolition of the buildings.
Earlier this year, council established a reserve fund to assist with these costs. The funds were to be raised over five years, with $300,000 being collected annually, one-third each from taxation, water assessments and sewer assessments.
At a recent meeting council was presented with several options for the fund, including extending or contracting the five-year time period, and altering the shares funded by taxation, water and sewer.
After a lengthy discussion, council members decided to reduce the time frame from five years to three, thereby increasing the annual contribution to the reserve fund to $450,000.
However, the total annual increase of $150,000 will come from taxes, with the water and sewer portions remaining at $100,000 each.
As a result, the contribution to the reserve fund from an average single-family residence will jump from $24.56 to $61.40.
The buildings with the highest abatement estimates are the Sonora Centre $1.4 million; Desert Sun Counselling $320,000; the town’s rental house $70,000; Town Hall $47,000; Cottonwood washroom $18,000; and the Art Gallery $13,000.
Most of the abatement procedures require that the materials be “managed in place” or removed when renovations or demolition are completed.
Two exceptions are the rental house, which needs $44,000K spend within a year and a $5,000 expenditure for Desert Sun.
