Ambiance
Terry Harnett also forwarded me a copy of this document that has been circulating around. I feel like I remember reading it somewhere -- one of the local papers, maybe? It sounds like some of the mayor's writing, but that doesn't seem quite right. I also got a call from Douglas Williams encouraging me to put it online, and he had talked to someone in public works who verified the numbers at the beginning.
The main points seems to be that Summerland is large and expensive to service, and that these expenses are going to be huge in the next few years. The implication is that we'll need to improve the tax base to pay for it all, probably by developing ALR land that is relatively cheap to service, and likely by supporting more commercial development to share the tax load. At least that's my rough interpretation -- comments welcome:
The main points seems to be that Summerland is large and expensive to service, and that these expenses are going to be huge in the next few years. The implication is that we'll need to improve the tax base to pay for it all, probably by developing ALR land that is relatively cheap to service, and likely by supporting more commercial development to share the tax load. At least that's my rough interpretation -- comments welcome:
"We Can't Afford All the Ambiance!
Summerland is currently in the process of rewriting its Official Community Plan. There has to be some changes. Let¹s compare Summerland and Penticton.The economic profile for Summerland based upon revenue generated is as follows:
- Summerland has 165 km of roads but maintains 320 km, 175 km of water lines, 70 km of sewer lines with a population of approximately 11,000.
- Penticton has 232 km of roads, 206 km of water lines, 153 km of sewer lines with a population of approximately 33,000.
- Summerland has a total area of 7,264 hectares with 2860.7 (39%) designated Agricultural Reserve.
- Penticton has a total area of 4,447 hectares with 841 hectares (19%) designated Agricultural Reserve.
1. retail trade
2. health and service sector
3. construction industry
4. agriculture
What does this mean to the taxpayers of Summerland? All this adds up to a whopping tax increase. We have to continue to maintain and upgrade the infrastructure we already have and we have the following major projects to pay for.
1. Upgrading and improving the quality of our water
2. Upgrade Thirst Dam to bring the spillway up to the mandated safety standard and increase its storage capacity
3. Splitting the water system (Domestic and Irrigation)
4. Purchase and installing a centrifuge
Estimated costs of these projects $27 million. The corporation already has $7.6 million from a previous grant and will be applying for more. Even if the corporation is successful in obtaining more grants the projected increase in taxes will be between $240 - $300. Call it what you want, tax increase or a parcel tax, it is going to be very expensive living in Summerland from now on.
Some of this should have been done years ago but it was no more affordable then, than now. So why now? We have no choice. In order to meet the new standards for safe drinking water because of the Walkerton tragedy, we have to greatly improve our treatment standards and plant. All water will have some treatment but the cost would be prohibitive to treat all water and would be asinine to attempt to. The only alternative is to split the system but it will be costly.
Taxes will have to increase but it would be made more palatable if the tax increase was shared equitable by all the taxpayers of Summerland. Let¹s look at the tax base for Summerland. The Municipal Tax Revenue By Property Class in Summerland for 2003 was as follows according to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The first figure represents the actual dollars paid by each class and the other figure represents the percentage of the total tax revenue that each property class contributed.
The total Municipal Taxes were $4,005,747.
Residential...$3,393,436 (84.7%)
Utilities.....$22,124 (0.6%)
Lt. Industry..$80,631 (2.0%)
Business......$437,974 (10.9%)
Recreation....$12,925 (0.3%)
Farm..........$58,657 (1.5%)
Next Spring when you admire the apple blossoms that last 10-12 days -- think about how much it is costing you."
posted by Jeremy |
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2 Comments:
So, what’s another $240 - $300 dollars a year in taxes? Let’s put it this way. I would have loved to have a home on the lake, or even one with a lake view, but, in all the time I’ve been here I could never afford it. Not only could I not afford to buy such a property, even with the homeowner’s grant, I could not have afforded the taxes. I know an individual residing on lakeshore property, with a nice house, but very little yard, who pays $11,000 a year in taxes. That would eat up half my yearly pension.
What I’m trying to say is, if you can’t afford to live here, don’t. But, in fact, the way things are going, just to satisfy the money-hungry developers, we will all be moving to Nakusp.
By
Anonymous, at 11:29 a.m.
Nobody likes paying higher taxes. It's part of the human condition, I think. But it does help to know where the money is going and agree with the spending.
If I'm paying an extra couple of hundred dollars to pay for sufficient amounts of high-quality water for decades, I pretty much have to suck it up. It's necessary and it's for the collective good.
If I'm paying an extra couple of hundred dollars a year to pay for road upgrades and new sewer lines running out to the edge of town for some rich developer's high-end subdivision, I'm not so sure.
And I really do like Nakusp -- you weren't making fun of it, were you?
By
Jeremy, at 10:52 p.m.
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