A TWO YEAR VISION (with your tax dollars in the crystal ball)

City Council now that it has put in motion its 500,000 dollar collection plan from taxpayers, is turning its attention to the bigger issues over the next two years for Prince Rupert. Those issues however, come with a warning that future tax increases may be required to address ongoing concerns in the community.

The Council met back on March 3rd to draft their strategic plan, a project that will soon be available on the city website or in hard copy form at City Hall. The public will be invited to comment on the plans and maybe express their thoughts on the need to keep increasing taxes to tackle these issues until the economy turns around.

After council has heard from the public it will formally adopt the plan along with any public amendments. Your online course in civics will soon be made available, take some time to become more versed in what the folks on council have planned and how they plan to fund it, after all you’re paying the shots.

The Daily news has the full story in Tuesday’s paper, the details are listed below.

COUNCILLORS SET SIGHTS ON THE NEXT TWO YEARS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, may 9, 2006
Pages One and Three

Now that the city has set out its tax rates for 2006, council quickly started the engine on another project- a strategic plan for the coming two years.

Council held a workshop on March 3 and the draft strategic plans was the result.

“It does lay out some priorities and guidelines in terms of timing and outcomes,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.

It will be made available for the public on the city’s website http://www.princerupert.ca/ and will also be available in paper form at city hall.

“It’s our intention to report back to council on a regular basis so the plan stays alive,” said Gord Howie, the city’s chief administrative officer.

“You have to stay on top of it and you have to ensure it stays current.”

Once the public has been given the opportunity to comment, city staff will compile public comments.

Council will formally adopt the strategic plan along with any public amendments.

“The six key areas targeted for improvement are the operations of the municipality, financial integrity, administrative stability, building a functional First Nations relationship and neighbours (including those within our community,) maintain and improve the quality of life, and work in planning initiatives,” said Pond.

The plan includes many of the initiatives mentioned by the public during the last municipal election, such as plans to improve the efficiency of the airport ferry, a clarification of the ownership and management of the Airport Road with Transport Canada, work on rebuilding the city’s infrastructure and completing an updated Official Community Plan (the current one is more than a dozen years old.)

Also included are plans to encourage new business growth buy developing new marketing strategies for the city, increasing the number of grants the city receives from other sources, and concentrated efforts to acquire transitional funding from the province to help the city with its current economic woes.

Although the city has agreed to raise taxes by $500,000 this year, it still faces financial challenges that will require future increases, at least until the city begins to see some revenue from future projects.

The city passed the final readings of its tax rates and five year financial plan last night.

As previously reported, homes that saw an increase in value greater than the 24 per cent average this year will face an increase in taxes, while those homes that saw little increase will actually see a reduction.