Big ticket items in large RDKB requisition have Rossland council crying "Fire!" and calling for a cab

By Andrew Bennett

As Rossland congratulates itself on a third consecutive year without increasing taxes, some on council took issue with another large hike in the regional district's (RDKB) requisition.

At the regular council meeting on Apr. 23, Coun. Tim Thatcher said, "I just went over the RDKB budget, there's a lot of money being spent. It's a big budget. I don't know if it seems out of control."

This year Rossland will pay the RDKB $1.44 million, a 3.9 per cent increase over last year. The RDKB's total property tax requisition has ballooned by $384,141 since last year—a 3.6 per cent increase—to more than $11 million.

Across the region, the typical property assessed at $200,000 will pay the RDKB $528 in taxes, about $18 (3.5 per cent) more than last year.

The RDKB's total budget, however, has decreased by 2.2 per cent since 2011 and now sits at $20.8 million.

The RDKB's biggest ticket items in the total 2012 budget are waste management ($4.17 million), East End fire protection ($3.6 million), government and administration ($3.16 million), culture, arts, and recreation in the Lower Columbia ($1.78 million), East End sewer ($1.77 million), and East End transit ($1.64 million).

Most services have seen their budgets expand, but heavy cuts have been dealt to general government and administration ($518,555 less), emergency preparedness ($337,075 less—to which Rossland does not contribute), regionalized waste management ($241,096 less), and 9-1-1 emergency communications ($187,450 less).

The regional airport and the East End regional sewer utility in Trail received the largest gains: $332,571 and $237,017 more than 2011, respectively.

Focusing only on the big ticket items, Rossland contributes the following amounts from property taxes:

  $493,133 to regional fire services
  $233,086 to the Columbia pollution control plant
  $197,609 to East End transit
  $121,076 to culture arts & recreation in the Lower Columbia
  $113,978 to regionalized solid waste management
  $77,372 to government and administration
  $76,254 to cemeteries
  $43,685 to East End economic development

Coun. Tim Thatcher zeroed in on East End transit: "Rossland's share for transit is almost $200,000. Are we really getting the value out of that? I know it's a touchy subject, but that's a big chunk of money. I know we're trying to push people to ride, but look at the ridership in Rossland."

Coun. Jill Spearn came to transit's defense: "It's a struggle. People who don't have an opportunity to drive a car or truck, or people who choose to be green, or seniors, this is why the bus system is there and should always be there."

On the other hand, she complained, "The buses here are huge, and seemingly underused. It's the format of the transportation we might take issue with. The cost is high, for sure, but I think we have to have it."

Spearn suggested cuts elsewhere, looking at Thatcher (a long time fireman) as she suggested, "If we want to talk about any of the items, then maybe the fire service."

Coun. Jody Blomme also defended transit as "very important for people, particularly younger people, teenagers who want to get places." She agreed, however, that the system could run more efficiently, perhaps with smaller vehicles.

Coun. Kathy Wallace, who sits on the RDKB board as Rossland's director, reminded council that part of the additional cost is due to the expansion of the service with new evening runs intended to encourage commuters.

She added, "The province is doing a review of transit, and there will be be a discussion coming from the East End to the province to say that urban planning doesn't fit rural areas. We have lesser population and greater geographical areas. The buses are determined by the province, and that is part of the problem."

Wallace said the city-size buses "are full, a couple times a day," but "the rest of the time it's very frustrating to see those big buses."

She also mentioned a resolution that Trail brought forward at the AKBLG (Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments) conference last week to "consider having taxi service as part of public transit service.”

Mayor Greg Granstrom brought it back to the bigger picture, noting the large size of the RDKB requisition. "The regional fire service is now almost double our snow removal budget," he said. "In our endeavour to keep our taxes in line, we would really hope our regional partners would do the same."

Coun. Cary Fisher concurred, "They've had continual increases. During a time of fiscal restraint by companies, where employees have had to make sacrifices along the way, I think some fiscal restraint would be needed at our regional government."

Fisher knows firsthand that such change can be difficult. In a separate correspondence, Fisher wrote, “I debated heavily on the issue of [reducing Rossland’s property taxes].  However, when I was done I could see that my arguments for a five per cent decrease were not gaining any traction.”

Whether the misgivings of Rossland and other RDKB communities about high regional taxes will gain traction or not remains to be seen.