The District of Hope is one step away from adopting their 2018 budget and five-year financial plan, with councillors voting to adopt the plans at a council meeting April 23.
The 2018 budget includes a two per cent increase from 2017, which will bring an added $156,000 dollars to the district. For a home assessed by B.C. Assessment at $351,500, the total tax will rise by $316.
The district collects taxes from homeowners, which then get distributed to the school district, the regional hospital, the regional district and B.C. Assessment. Using the average home assessment of $351,500, the tax will be around $2,752, a figure not exact yet as school tax rates haven’t yet been received.
The $2,752 will be distributed as follows: $1,544 goes to the District of Hope, $785 to the Fraser-Cascade School District, $356 to the Fraser Valley Regional District, $51 to the regional hospital and $14 to B.C. Assessment. In total, 56 per cent goes to the district, and 44 per cent to the other government agencies.
Mayor Wilfried Vicktor said there is still some confusion about the district budget and how each homeowner is taxed.
“When they hear that council has had a two per cent increase in the budget and they receive a 10 per cent reduction in taxes or a 15 per cent increase in taxes, they’re like ‘how does this play out’?”
BC Assessment, separate from the municipality, evaluates homes in each neighbourhood and establishes a tax amount. The agency is used by municipalities across the province to set tax rates. While some years are difficult, for example the drastic increases seen over the past few years in the Kawkawa Lake neighbourhood, overall Vicktor said the system is a fairly good one.
A number of large capital projects are included in the 2018 budget.
Paving is a major expense. The district plans to spend $1.2 million on paving this year.
“People expect good roads, safely passable roads anyways. So I think we’re picking away at it as best we can,” Vicktor said. “If we have small tax increases or small budget increases, then obviously we can do a little less infrastructure upgrades. I mean if we bump the budget up 10 per cent, then we could certainly up the game for infrastructure upgrades, but that’s not something a majority of people would be willing to go with. It’s just not affordable.”
Othello Road is getting upgrades to the tune of $557,000, which will involve repairs to a 150 metre portion of the road to keep it functional. District chief administrative officer John Fortoloczky detailed the work to be done on the road, which involves replacing a culvert, cutting and removing rock to shift the road to the south, re-aligning sections to reduce curves, replacing the base of the road and paving.
The district will also buy the electronic traffic signs being used to control traffic on the portion of Othello Road, the rental for January to March cost the district $7,500 and purchasing the signs will cost another $14,000.
To build a pedestrian path from Silver Creek to Hope over Richmond Hill, $840,000 has been put aside in this year’s budget. The project is put into the budget, Fortolockzy explained, as having it in the budget is a pre-requisite for getting a grant to partially fund it. The project will not go ahead until grant funding, around 50 per cent of the cost, is secured.
The wastewater plant, which is 83 per cent funded by the provincial and federal governments, is to be completed by March 31, 2019. The balance of the $1.8-million-dollar project is included in the 2018 budget.
A new fire engine will be bought for $400,000, which comes from Fire Department reserves.
Two projects pushed for by resident groups — fencing of a dog park beside the curling rink and making a disc golf course at the Coquihalla River Park — are both in the budget for this year.
There are currently no plans in the budget for Station House, the museum or visitor centre.
“We just haven’t had money in the budget to move forward on it,” said Vicktor. “I think at this point we can’t make any commitments on that.”
Fortoloczky said the next logical step would be to do an assessment to see whether repairs on the A-frame building which previously housed the museum and visitor centre are possible.
“Right now because of the health issues associated with the mould in there, we need to maintain the Britco building,” he said.
Roof replacements on municipal hall and the public health unit at 444 Park St. are also planned for 2018.
The 2018 budget runs the calendar year from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.
Capital projects completed last year (From CAO John Fortoloczky)
· 6th Ave Storm Sewer – replacement of a section of broken stormwater main in front of the Curling Club
· Paving of 6th Ave between Old Hope Princeton Way and Thacker Ave.
· Paving of Coquihalla St. between 6th Ave and Water Ave.
· Reconstruction of Rupert St. between Yale and Wardle
· Paving of Othello Road (100m) immediately east of Nestle Waters
· Significant patch repair on Flood Hope Road
· Richmond Hill Multi-Use Pathway – Preliminary Design
· Replacement of exhaust fans in Public Works Shop
· Purchase of a multi-purpose welder
· Purchase of an air conditioning recharge machine
· Purchase a placement of 5 bear resistant garbage containers
· Purchase of 8 concrete planters for Wallace St.
· Installation of 2nd floating dock at Kawkawa Lake Beach
· Installation of Welcome Sign at Kawkawa Lake
· Upgrades and component replacement at Kaw Road Sewage Lift Station
· Pollution Control Center outfall repair
· Coquihalla Sewer Forcemain repair (cast in place pipe lining)
· Installation of generators at Lake of the Woods Water System and Well#10
· Fencing at Lake of the Woods Pumphouse and South Silver Creek Reservoir
Capital projects planned for this year
· Municipal Hall roof replacement
· Public Health Unit Roof Replacement (444 Park St.)
· East Kawkawa Lake Drainage Improvements (culvert headwall, culvert replacement)
· Paving (Kawkawa Lake Road, Swallow Place to Lakeview Crescent)
· Othello Road Upgrade Project
· Purchase of diagnostic scan tool for fleet repairs
· Public Works Yard Improvements (carryover projects)
· Replacement of fuel tanks and pumps –PW Yard
· Purchase of a shipping container for storage
· Purchase and installation of a portable lunch room for PW staff
· 6th Ave ball diamond irrigation (carryover)
· Purchase of new water meter reading software
· Spare pump for Well #10
· Generator for well #11 (Silver Creek)
· SCADA upgrades (Water and Sewer Control System)
· Columbarium Installation
