The District of Squamish wants to know how residents feel tax dollars should be spent before starting the 2009 budget process.
Council directed staff to complete a in-house telephone survey of the community with questions from an Ipsos Reid quality of life/ finance survey at a council meeting Tuesday (Feb. 3) Coun. Rob Kirkham, Finance Committee chair, said the survey is intended to give council guidance in the development of the budget.
"We want to make sure we engage the community in the budget process because it seems to be an area we could improve on," Kirkham said.
The telephone survey has its limitations but Kirkham said it is one of many community engagement initiatives planned.
"The survey does not include cell phones and will be out of the phone book. There are all kinds of hurdles when getting community involvement but we will be having a town hall meeting as well," Kirkham said.
Council also directed the chairs of the newly minted standing committees to meet with municipal department heads to create operating budgets to give guidance in the development of the overall budget.
Along with the telephone survey, a town hall meeting is planned in early March to gather community input.
"People in our community will be getting some telephone calls and we urge them to participate," said Coun. Corinne Lonsdale.
Plastic bags reduced
The city of Rossland achieved a 75 per cent reduction in plastic bag use in less than one year and the District of Squamish is on track to do the same.
Council approved the release of $10,000 from the Carbon Neutral Reserve Fund to the Greener Footprints plastic bag reduction initiative. The program includes the distribution of up to 15,000 reusable Squamish logo bags and educational materials reminding people to kick the plastic bag habit.
The money from the Carbon Neutral Reserve Fund are intended to offset green house gas emissions from municipal operations. The plastic bag reduction initiative supports the reduction of green house gas emissions.
"The funds from the Carbon Neutral Reserve Fund came from taxation and were transferred according to our carbon footprint," said Ralph Hughes, District of Squamish director of finance. "Community programs supporting the reduction of waste fit the purpose of the fund."
For more information on the Greener Footprints program, check out www.greenerfootprints.com.
Tax complaints process frustrating
A new piece of legislation from the provincial government is serving to infuriate municipal councils around British Columbia including Squamish.
Property taxes represent a major source of money for municipal operations and infrastructure. Recently the provincial government passed Bill 11 - the Small Business and Revenue Statutes Amendment Act, granting property tax relief to supportive housing projects.
Lonsdale said Bill 11 removes local government opportunity to decide property tax exemptions and erodes the local government tax base.
"The district needs to lobby the province to stop eroding local government power," Lonsdale said.
The creation of the special assessment class for supportive housing such as drug rehabilitation centres seems positive but Lonsdale disagrees. She said the new assessment category should be limited to cases where municipalities have agreed to exempt property taxes as a means of financially assisting in the development.
As a result, council passed a motion to urge the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) to lobby the provincial government to stop infringing on areas that affect local municipalities without actually consulting with municipalities.
