Residents in rural areas will see small increases to their property tax bills in 2011. How much property owners will pay depends on which electoral area the property is located in and what services they pay for.
Powell River Regional District directors adopted the five-year financial plan at the March 24 board meeting.
Linda Greenan, chief financial officer, provided an overview of the plan. She explained that the 2011 total budget was $8.6 million, which is approximately $164,000 less than 2010, or a two per cent decrease overall. “A lot of the decrease is because in 2010 we had some large operating costs, which were just a one-time cost,” she said. “Overall, costs to operate most services are increasing.”
In 2011, taxation is 37 per cent of revenue, compared to 34 per cent in 2010. The total tax requisition for 2011 is about $3 million, an increase of $266,171, or 9.6 per cent, over 2010. Residential taxes for regional services will be approximately $25.91 per $100,000 of residential assessment, an increase of $1.30 over 2010 for the same services.
Total requisition for individual area services has increased by about $90,000. However, only select areas will be impacted. Increases of note are in the following services: Northside fire protection, new firehall; Northside recreation, building maintenance and reserve; and Malaspina fire protection, continued training upgrading. Requisitions for the Savary Island and Lasqueti Island fire protection services have decreased by $28,000 and $11,615 respectively.
Texada residential taxpayers will also see an overall tax increase due to Transport Canada regulatory requirements at the airport and for a grant to upgrade Texada’s road rescue capability.
No increases are planned for camping fees, waste tipping fees, cemetery fees or Myrtle Pond water. Lund sewer fees have increased to account for part of the 2010-11 capital costs.
Capital expenditures in 2011 are budgeted at about $2.5 million. Most capital expenditures occur in services financed by only one electoral area and don’t impact taxpayers throughout the region. Of the total capital budget, only $88,807 will be financed from the current year requisition. Funding for the balance comes from grants, prior year surpluses, reserve funds, insurance proceeds and borrowing.
A new Northside Volunteer Fire Department firehall, Myrtle Pond water system improvements, completion of the Lund sewer treatment plant upgrade and upgrades to the Texada Recreation Commission properties account for 74 per cent of the capital plan. Other capital works, valued at $248,560, include implementation of the cemeteries development plan, replacement of the Craig Park maintenance building and equipment and minor capital works at some regional parks.
The total reserve fund balance at the end of 2015 is only $892,00 more than the January 2011 balance, half of which is from interest earnings, Greenan said. “That’s something we need to address,” she said.
