Powell River Chamber of Commerce has called on City of Powell River Council to be fiscally prudent.
At the January 23 special city council meeting called to look into budgetary matters, chamber president Dave Formosa appeared as a delegation to spell out suggestions on finance and on community safety.
“Given the high cost of living and goods in general, and how there are new services with the liquid waste facility and waste transfer system, funds are going to be in high demand,” said Formosa. “We need to tighten our belts and live within our means once again.
“We used to have an old saying: live within our means. We want to bring that back again.”
Formosa said taxation of the Catalyst Paper Tis’kwat mill is approximately 18 to 20 per cent of the city’s budget.
“We will be seeing significantly less in this area,” said Formosa. “I know we are hoping to see an increase from Evolugen Power regarding the dam assets being separated from the mill’s tax bill.
“Overall, we believe we will be seeing a significant reduction in industrial tax income, thus putting more tax pressure on the business and residential communities.”
Formosa said there are some examples in tax reduction the chamber of commerce would like to see, which could reduce the tax bill by about three per cent. These include the Zunga Bus, which is one that Formosa supported when he was mayor. He said it was a pilot project to show the province what can be done in this time of new technology.
“Unfortunately, they never came to the party,” said Formosa. “We don’t have the luxury to keep that up. I’m very concerned about the next year or two or three.”
Formosa recommended putting a hold on replacing the social planner position that serves the city, qathet Regional District and Tla’amin Nation. He said that could also provide for tax reduction.
Formosa also mentioned the city’s organics program. He said many people put their organics in their own bins and put it in their gardens.
“I know it’s something we’ve piloted for years, but it’s a time of belt tightening,” said Formosa.
He then brought up community safety. He said a number of chamber members are complaining about crime.
“I’ve spoken to many business owners since becoming the chamber president and I’ve been looking at video clips that would blow your mind,” said Formosa. “We ask, in certain areas and times of the day when these activities are occurring, if council would consider the possibility of working with the chamber and Lift Community Services to arrange security in certain circumstances on our streets and in our neighbourhoods – let’s refer to them as the hotspots.
“I’m sure, if we all work together, we can find a budget that can allow for 24-hour security when we have the cold spells and people are using the shelter, and in the hotspots, which would make a lot of our residents and businesses quite happy and safer.”
Formosa said he would like to add, after reading about the city’s draft strategic plan, that his board cannot emphasize enough the need for the mayor and council to get fully entrenched and involved in attracting more industrial tax-based corporations for the mill site, which is still within the city’s area of responsibility and governance.
“Please fight for the continued control on the governance we have over that property,” said Formosa. “We need to attract industrial customers for that site. We all know that there was a buyer that was removed from the process, and it breaks my heart that it happened, because we need tax revenue desperately and quickly.”
Formosa said the chamber would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these thoughts in the future.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she believes the city received correspondence from the chamber, inviting a liaison to attend chamber board meetings. She asked if the matter could be put on a subsequent committee of the whole agenda so council could discuss a liaison and increasing communication.
Elliott made a motion to request staff to put the matter on a committee of the whole agenda. The motion carried.
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