In a referendum held on Feb. 27, 2016, Lakes District residents approved raising their taxes to resurface the runway at Burns Lake’s Baker Airport.
However, raising the tax limit of the Village of Burns Lake and Electoral Areas B and E wasn’t enough to pay for the project, which is quoted at $1.55 million.
The Lakes District Airport Society (LDAS) has distributed a funding drive letter to a number of businesses, organizations and First Nations bands asking for $258,000 to complete the resurfacing project.
Raising the tax limit of the village and Electoral Areas B and E will cover $675,000 of the total cost of the project; confirmed grant funding will cover$500,000; and money from capital reserves will cover $117,000. This leaves a shortfall of $258,000.
In order to pay for the $258,000 shortfall, LDAS has also applied for a number of grants. The grants are currently pending approval.
According to Corrine Swenson, Manager of Regional Economic Development for the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN), the Village of Burns Lake, the RDBN and LDAS were aware that there was a shortfall before the referendum took place.
“LDAS circulated a brochure that outlines the project funding and shortfall as well as their plan to address the shortfall through grant and donation requests,” she explained. “It was and still is the intention to minimize the impact to the tax payer through securing grant funding and donations to cover the shortfall and request further funding to reduce the debt and ultimately the tax ask.”
As of April 4, LDAS had secured $30,000 of the shortfall.
The RDBN had originally planned to borrow $1 million to be repaid over 15 years. However, the province implemented a new policy interpretation and no longer allows local governments to borrow for more than five years for assets they do not own.
Since the RDBN does not own the airport, they are now limited to a five-year debt. To accommodate this, the RDBN would’ve had to increase the tax limit even more than originally planned.
“The tax increase that was already proposed – to increase from $93,750 to $190,000 – was significant, and the elected officials representing the three participating areas did not want to increase more than the original referendum plan,” said Swenson. “Because we could only repay a maximum of $675,000 with the proposed tax limit of $190,000, we planned to make up the shortfall with grants and donations.”
Property taxes will not increase for members of the two First Nations bands within the village’s boundaries – the Burns Lake Band and Lake Babine Nation. According to Sheryl Worthing, Chief Administrative Officer for the Village of Burns Lake, the airport is funded by a RDBN local service agreement, which does not include the two local bands.
The Burns Lake Airport is owned by the Village of Burns Lake and operated by LDAS under a long-term lease. The LDAS is funded by the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako through a sub-regional service that taxes properties in the participating jurisdictions, which are the village and Electoral Areas B and E.
According to Reg Blackwell, LDAS President, not resurfacing the runway could result in the closure of the airport. He explained that although the current condition of the runway is safe, large pieces of asphalt have been cracking away from the main runway.
