Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Glad tidings from City Hall coming to a mailbox near you


It's Property tax time in Podunk, as the city has finished off its calculations and sent out the happy salutations to its anxious tax paying public.

This is the first year for the new tax system in Prince Rupert, your utility taxes were assessed (and increased) earlier this year and the real true Podunkians rushed to their cheque books to make sure the city remained solvent until July 3rd.

This year the property assessment is a stand alone charge, which interestingly enough still manages to go up every year, though it may seem a little gentler this time on paper. What with your water, sewer and garbage charges tapped on the earlier utility bill, which is now paid off and long forgotten, right?

The current tax levies on the assessments this year, increased in every category for most Podunkians. School levies, General Residential, Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District, Regional Hospital, BCAA and Northwest Regional Hospital charges all went up as did our General Municipal charges and other taxes. Only MFA Residential (whatever that may be) held the line with no increase this year.

Whatever MFA is we clearly need more of it, as it seems to be the only fiscally responsible item on the list.

Regardless, the due date will arrive with or without our bleating out in the fields; Taxes are due to be paid to City Hall by July 3, 2007.

There are three ways that the tax paying class can take care of their civic responsibilities.

We can pay in full (surely the preferred method for the folks at city hall)

We can pay in installments, the pre authorized Tax and Utility plan (delaying and spacing out the inevitable, but keeping some cash in your jeans to jingle)

Or we can pretend we’re a moribund pulp mill and let the financial debts fall where they will...

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