The first of four town-hall meetings hosted by the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) was held in 100 Mile House on Jan. 17.
The meetings goal was to review the CRD’s 2011 budget and five-year financial plan with interested taxpayers.
Monday’s town-hall meeting was for District of 100
Mile House residents and taxpayers in the District of 100
Mile House, who learned that although the budget is a bit lower this
year, property taxes would go up.
The evening started with an informal session of casual conversations on various topics, and then the organized part of the meeting commenced.
Despite a turnout of only seven residents beyond a number of politicians and staff present, Mayor Mitch Campsall welcomed folks to the meeting and began the introductions and presentation.
After covering the basics, including a snapshot feature of the district as well as the mission, values and an overview of the CRD, he explained the District of 100 Mile House forms a part of the regional district.
The two entities share many common interests and work closely together on issues such as the budget, Campsall noted.
CRD chief financial officer Janis Bell took over with the financial portion of the presentation.
While the budgeted services apply to everyone in the district, she explained the municipalities are allowed to set their own tax rate, but the province dictates the regional district rates.
“We can say what the tax rate’s going to be on a residential property, and then the municipality is going to decide what that’s going to translate to for someone who lives inside the municipality.”
The 2011 CRD budget is still preliminary, she said, adding district staff is actively looking for public input, and encouraged those in attendance to complete a survey on hand at the meeting.
“All of the comments from these meetings do go back to the board ... so they can look at making any changes to the five-year financial plan before we adopt it in March.”
There are three types of services that taxpayers contribute to, including region-wide, sub-regional and local.
There are some services that everyone pays for, and others that are specific to each resident’s location.
The Local Government Act doesn’t allow the regional district to have deficit financing and must balance its budget, Bell noted.
Although the CRD is allowed to borrow money, it is not able to move money from one function to another, she explained.
Moving on to BC Assessment property values, Bell said 100 Mile House is expected to have a stable value or decline seen this year, from zero to -15 per cent difference.
Meanwhile, local property taxes are increasing in 2011 to a total requisition of approximately $21 million, up about $425,000 from last year.
However, the total CRD budget is actually lower, dropping about $4.8 million to just under $43 million.
Property taxes are not the only source of funding for the regional district, so there are other financial considerations that affect these numbers, such as provincial contributions, Bell said
Of all the property taxes paid in the regional district, only about 35 to 45 per cent goes to the CRD, she noted.
The balance goes to provincial school taxes, by far the largest portion, as well as the hospital districts, the provincial rural tax for roads and a policing tax.
The taxation for the CRD portion covers its operating costs, capital expenses, debt payments and requisitions.
The biggest component in inflationary pressures this year for the entire regional district is South Cariboo solid waste management, with a $127,000 cost increase seen, Bell explained.
“South Cariboo solid waste has been a driving force in our budget increases for two years running now.
“We are experiencing some significant problems with solid waste down here after some of the changes made at the 100 Mile House Landfill where tipping fees were imposed.”
This is specifically due to those people who have been dumping garbage at rural transfer stations or landfills rather than pay the 100 Mile tipping fees, which, she said, hits all South Cariboo taxpayers in the pocketbook, because the district has to pay to transport that waste to the correct facility.