More money is flowing to the Village of Lytton as it slowly tries to rebuild after the devastating wildfire on June 30, 2021.
The province has announced $8.3 million in funding to support ongoing village operations and recovery.
$2.1 million will cover lost property tax revenue over the next three years. According to British Columbia Assessment, and based on information from Emergency Management BC, 187 of 193 (97%) residential and business properties in the village sustained damage that resulted in a partial write-down of their property assessment for 2022.
$6.26 million will assist the village to manage significant wildfire response and recovery costs including repairing the water and wastewater system, debris removal, environmental and archaeological remediation and legal and governance issues.
Other legislative changes will deal with the fact that all of the village's records and backup servers were lost during the fire and the content of many existing bylaws remains unknown. The legislative amendments will give council clarity and enable it to take steps toward recreating a full suite of bylaws to support governance and administration.
"We know this has been an incredibly difficult time for people in Lytton and our government is taking the necessary steps to support the council and staff with their recovery," said Josie Osborne, Minister of Municipal Affairs. "Through new operating funding and legislative changes, we're ensuring the village has the resources they need and the legal ground necessary to take important actions toward rebuilding."
"The village rebuild has been incredibly complex and the documents' recovery is no exception. We are grateful to now have access to funding in order to put in place the framework and increase capacity to get the reconstruction underway, which will allow us to ramp up the infrastructure rebuild," said Jan Polderman, mayor of Lytton.
The village needs to replace bylaws covering everything from elections to land use bylaws that will clear the way for the community to rise from the ashes.
Some in the community have said the pace of recovery is too slow and they feel like they have been abandoned.
