With almost a month to spare, District of Squamish council this week gave first three readings to the 2011 budget and the tax rate bylaw.
The effective tax increase overall is 2.54 per cent and after analyzing the potential impact of shifting tax burdens, councillors decided to reduce the light industrial tax rate from 17.4 to the B.C. average - 14.9.
The light industrial tax rate reduction will prompt an $8 increase in the average residential property tax, an amount councillors could support especially considering it will save light industrial properties $451.
However, the three other sample reductions council requested financial services manager Joanne Greenlees to bring forward were not supported - reducing the business rate by one point from 10.5 to 9.5 (despite a B.C. average of 10.8), and bringing the managed forests and farm tax rates in line with the B.C. average.
The business tax rate reduction would have cost the average residential property owner $59 and even Gardner, who suggested the reduction, was not keen on such a substantial increase.
"This reduction would cause a very dramatic increase," he said.
Coun. Paul Lalli agreed.
"I'm pleased that we're getting more in line and have been supporting reduction in business mill rate over the last couple years," he said. "But this is something that we need to have a little bit more in-depth analysis on.
"I believe there is a correlation between the residential taxpayer and businesses because the less disposable income people have, the less they're going to spend in those businesses."
Councillors agreed that the managed forests and farm tax rates were "out of whack" with the B.C. average. The managed forest tax rate is 92.6 compared to the B.C. average of 5.2 and farms are 106.7 compared to the 25.1 B.C. average.
"The farm mill rate is prohibitive," said Coun. Patricia Heintzman. "If we want to encourage local production, we need to address that issue."
Most councillors agreed but said considering the minute change it would cause in 2011, council should not proceed too hastily.
"My suggestion would be that staff look at those more closely," said Gardner, adding that Coun. Corinne Lonsdale had explained the lengthy process and strategy undertaken to create those mill rates.
Coun. Rob Kirkham agreed. "I definitely want to look at it but don't want to change policy rashly," he said.
Lalli made a motion to approve the light industrial reduction and the motion was carried unanimously.
$30K trails maintenance request fails
A motion from Coun, Bryan Raiser to revisit a specific budget line item - $30,000 for seasonal trails maintenance - provoked frustration from several councillors who thought it was unfair to revisit some items and not others.
"I brought this up because in our budget deliberations, there was only one day when Mayor Gardner was absent and only one budget line that was a tie," Raiser said. "In the interest of democracy, I think it's fair to the community to have this conversation."
He reminded council that the trail maintenance budget has been cut every year for the past 10 years and it's time to support the trail network.
"This money is a bang for our buck and basically it's putting money where our Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada mouth is," he said.
"It's time we finally put back into this integral economic and recreation infrastructure."
Heintzman seconded the motion.
"I really supported this - $30,000 is really not a lot of money to put into an amenity that used by thousands of people in Squamish and by visitors," she said.
"I think it's a really worthwhile investment in mountain biking, a recreation that costs us very little in our community compared to others."
Coun. Doug Race, who supported the motion originally, said he would support it again but had "misgivings about revisiting line items in the budget in this fashion."
Lonsdale said she would not support the motion, as there was already $15,000 in the trails maintenance budget.
Kirkham was particularly bothered by the item being brought forward for a second time.
"I find it curious that this is being brought forward for reconsideration on the basis that Mayor Gardner wasn't there. It just seems ludicrous to me," he said.
"Hit and miss throughout the year, there's all kinds of things that are dealt with when one or the other of us aren't here and to make reference to that somehow being democracy not at work that just seems crazy to me."
Kirkham also mentioned that for the past three years money in the trails maintenance budget was not spent.
Gardner was the most frustrated with revisiting the motion.
"I think it's bad practice as a policy to review every motion that doesn't pass because of a tie vote," Gardner said. "I think that's not a good way to govern. Democracy should prevail in the system set up."
He did not support the motion to include $30,000 for trails maintenance and said the district has been spending a lot of money on trails, though not directly for maintenance.
"Most of that has been allocated to capital expenditures on trails," he acknowledged. "For example the Corridor Trail, the Carpenter's Sons Bridge and also the Kingswood Bridge. Once those projects are completed, we can look at putting more money towards maintenance."
The motion failed at the Committee of the Whole with Gardner, Kirkham, Lalli and Lonsdale opposed. It failed more soundly at the regular council meeting with Gardner, Kirkham, Lalli, Lonsdale and Race opposed.
Legacy Funds conditions decided
Before actually handing over the $140,000 in Sports Legacy Funds to the four projects already selected, council decided to set pre-release conditions on each to ensure the projects' completion.
"Each project has a set of recommended pre-release criteria that we would put into a letter of understanding with each of the groups approved by council," said Robin Arthurs, district corporate services general manager.
All four projects require signage, approved by the district, in the form of a plaque or similar structure that must include the words "a Legacy of the 2010 Games" and acknowledgement to the District of Squamish.
They are also required to identify a timeframe for completion of the project, subject to district approval.
All four projects also require confirmation that the proponent will be able to implement the completed and operational project within the identified timeframe beforehand, and accounting verification that the money was used as described in the proposal.
Because of their unique locations, the Diamond Head Trail project and the Paddling Clubhouse expansion have additional criteria.
The Diamond Head Trail project requires written confirmation that partnering opportunities for funding by the Squamish Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) and B.C. Parks were pursued and results must be provided to the district.
Gardner said he thought council should be considering an additional term - confirmation that the land tenure is available.
"We don't want to get ourselves in a position where we're contributing dollars to build things on land that they don't have the right to build on," he said.
Race added that the land was adjacent to, if not on, lands that may be acquired by the Squamish Nation. "I think we wanted some confirmation from Squamish Nation," he said.
The Paddling Clubhouse expansion requires verification of a formal contract between Coast Aggregates Ltd. and the Mamquam River Access Society for land tenure of the kayak site.
A motion to accept all the pre-conditions was carried unanimously.
