Perhaps the sound of the bleating off in the distance has taken the Mayor and the City Hall Six by surprise. The latest announcement of yet another tax rate increase has not been received with a welcoming reception of the herd.
Instead, there is some less than quiet grumbling is being heard around the city and it’s starting to get a little bit louder, providing a bit of a backlash of residents wanting justification for the city continually heading to the taxation well.
The Daily News presented some talking points from the normally quiet populace over the almost 4% increase in taxes announced at this week’s city council meeting. Concerns such as past mistakes on key issues around town, a lack of inventiveness in finding new revenue streams and the always possible movement of residents out to Port Ed and its less onerous tax load, were all presented in the article.
The article could serve to be a warning to the mayor and his council that perhaps their subjects, er, citizens, have reached the limit of the taxation, even if it comes with representation.
The key now will be to see if that representation, takes the residents invocations into consideration.
After all there's nothing more dangerous to a politician than a herd of angry sheep!
TAXPAYERS HAVE HAD ENOUGH COUNCIL IS TOLD
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, April 27, 2007
Page one
After three consecutive years of tax increases, members of the public want council to justify another increase.
At a public hearing Monday night, several people relayed their concerns that homeowners have had enough and that council is not focusing enough on finding other sources of revenue.
“The big question is what’s to stop me from moving to Port Ed, paying a lot less taxes, using the city bus to come to Prince Rupert and use the Prince Rupert facilities tax free,” said Bob Wybou, a Prince Rupert resident who has to travel out of town for work.
“It’s getting harder and harder for me to justify living here when in my line of work I can live anywhere.”
“My other co-workers live in other parts of province, have houses worth three times my house and pay a third of the tax.”
This year, the city says it needs an additional 3.2 per cent in revenue, or $360,000, from taxpayers.
Jim Bruce, financial services manager, said it is very hard to compare tax rates between cities. “One of the things you have to look at are what services do you have and what are the value of the homes?” said Bruce.
He noted that in 1996, the average home in Prince Rupert was assessed at $120,000 and taxes were $900, This year, the average home is assessed at $138,000 and taxes are $1,235 (water, sewer and garbage fees are separate.)
“If you look at the past 11 years, your taxes have gone up by $335 overall. If you take a look at the cost of inflationary goods and services, you probably are getting a pretty good deal for your money,” he said.
Barry Cunningham, resident, said at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how the city cuts the figure, residents are paying more.
“You still have the same number of empty businesses on Third Street and a fair number of empty houses and a port development that won’t be bringing a lot more taxes because of the port grant (taxation cap). Not a lot has changed,” he said.
“We lost the industrial tax base because of the incompetence of the city and the way they handled the (pulp) mill. It’s now being stripped of assets and shipped away and I don’t see the city out there trying to take advantage of the property and the assets that are out there right now.
“I see them slowly shipping it out on chip barges and the city sitting back and saying maybe it might open one day. While the general public’s perception is that city council is living in a fantasy land if they think that is going to open.”
City administrator Gord Howie said the city is trying to get some cash out of Sun Wave Forest Products to help with this year’s taxes.
Sun Wave purchased the mill after its former owner, New Skeena Forest Products, declared bankruptcy and the mill has not operated since it was sold by the provincial Liberals in 2002. Various mill owners haven’t paid taxes since 1999, when the provincial government stepped in to try to save the beleaguered forestry operation.
(The province pushed the back taxes from 1999 to 2001 on to the new owner, who had an agreement to repay them but then, after three years of not operating, went bankrupt. The B.C. Supreme Court has since dissolved those taxes, so no one is under any obligation to repay them.)
“Part of the agreement with Sun Wave is to negotiate an amenity contribution for those years they are not paying taxes,” said Howie. “We are trying to get some cash out of them to try to help with this year’s budget.
Sun Wave bought the company in the summer of 2006, and 2007 would be the first year of the agreement with the city under which they do not have to pay regular property taxes. “Council has also written several letters now from our lawyers reminding them of their obligations to the city.”
The company has to produce pulp by Jan. 1 of next year or the tax agreement is void. “It seems like pretty weak action, lawyers talking back and forth. At the end of the day it is just costing us more money,” said Cunningham.
On Monday, city council will debate the public input they heard and determine whether to change the budget before it is passed.
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