“The challenge for the District council is clear: keep taxes low while maintaining good service levels at a time when costs are rising for everything, from environmental regulations to energy costs to provincial government downloads.”
That appeared to be the gist of a service capacity report recently done for District of Clearwater by consultants Diehl Management.
The report compared Clearwater with 11 other B.C. communities with similar populations, taxable areas, municipal taxes and users fees.
The municipalities were Chase, Sicamous, Enderby, Burns Lake, Fruitvale, 100 Mile House, Barriere, Lumby, Ashcroft, Nakusp and Valemount.
Of the 12, Clearwater was by far the largest in area, at 5,447 ha. The average was 1,455 ha.
“This large, sprawled out area has unique challenges in terms of providing cost effective local government services, particularly for pipes and pavement,” said the report.
Clearwater came second for the most roads at 69 km. Only Valemount, with 90 km of roads, had more.
Municipal taxes in Clearwater were an average of $644, while the average of the 12 communities was $735.
Barriere had the lowest taxes, at $562, while the highest taxes of the 12 were in Sicamous, at $1,268.
Clearwater has 42 km of pipes – meaning water and sewer. This is slightly less than the average of 50 km per municipality.
Clearwater’s population is estimated at 2,383 in the report. People aged 55 and over make up 35.4 per cent of the population, which is higher than the provincial average.
“This older demographic presents unique challenges to the District in terms of services and taxation demands, as they usually do not wish to pay more taxes,” the report says.
Clearwater has had three chief administrative officers and three directors of finance since incorporation in 2007.
Attracting good professional staff to manage a $4 million corporation is a major challenge for smaller communities, the report notes.
There have been three elections since incorporation. The most recent saw a complete turnover of council members, except for the mayor and one councillor.
“The newness of the organization and the turnover of key decision makers create a significant challenge for the District,” the report says.
The report identified four primary challenges:
1. The municipality is new, which results in unrealistic expectations on what and how quickly things can be achieved;
2. The new organization needs a tremendous amount of new policies, procedures and bylaws;
3. Staff job descriptions have been inherited from the former improvement district or regional district, and need to be re-aligned.
4. Council and management have changed significantly over the six years since incorporation, creating confusion and inefficiencies.
Recommendations in the report include reviewing the community’s strategic plan, reviewing town council’s committee of the whole structure, combining the motor vehicle licensing/ICBC office with the District front office (already done), considering creating a new deputy clerk position, and bringing bylaw enforcement in-house (presently it is contracted to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District or done by the CAO).
The report also recommends implementing business licenses.
Such fees might not be popular, but would result in new resources to address fire safety, bylaw infractions and ensure proper zoning and placement of businesses.
Another recommendation was that there be a review of Clearwater’s parks. The District has 18, of which only eight are developed. Most are the result of subdivision regulations that used to require five percent of the land be set aside as park if three or more lots were created.
Under the new official community plan, developers now can opt to contribute the equivalent amount in cash, which then can only be used to purchase land for park use elsewhere.
