CREWS ARE currently working round the clock to have
two of three BC Ferries loading ramps at Horseshoe Bay
operating this weekend to help relicve traffic bottlenecks at
the ferry terminal following Friday’s loading ramp collapse.

But damage to the collapsed
ramp is major and will require ex-
tensive repairs before it is back in
service. ,

BC Ferries spokesman Bill
said Monday

Bouchard

maintenance to the terminal’s
Berth Three, initially scheduled to
be completed over the next few
weeks, will now be completed early
so that it will be back in service by
the weekend.

Horseshoe Bay terminal is cur-
rently operating with only one of
its three docks following Friday’s
collapse of Berth Two’s loading
ramp.

The ramp crashed into Horse-
shoe Bay harbor at 5:36 p.m. Fri-
day, immediately after ,the 5:30
p.m. sailing of the Oueeii* of
Cowichan had pulled away from
the dock on its way to Langdale.

A male ramp attendant was

NCRTH VA™<OUVER RCMP are checking this four-dou. Toyota sedan for possible mechanical defect after the car crashed into several vehicles,
a pedestrixc: .d the window of the 1200-block Marine {\:ive Save-On-Foods store Friday afternoon. Police say the driver of the Toyota, a 72-
year-old West Vancouver woman, said her accelerator stu:i, causing hez to lose control of the vehicle. The car shot forward, hit another vehicle,
reversed into a pickup truck, drove forward and crashed into a stack of soil bags, reversed into a pedestrian and another vehicle and then drove
forward into the store window. According Co police, the pe\vstrian suffered minor injuries.

‘BUYS CIVILIZATION,’ SAYS ALDERMAN

NVD taxes to rise by 7.9 per cent

**} LIKE paying taxes because it buys me civilization.” It
remains to be seen how many North Vancouver District res-
idents will be echoing the words of Voltaire, as quoted hy
Ald. Bill Rodgers, after receiving notices of tax increases
averaging 7.9 per cent over last year.

In a hotly-contested debate that
ultimately saw the proposed
budget pass third reading Monday
night, it was revealed that the
district’s operating budget for 1989
has increased by $2 million to
$38,634,000.

This increase breaks down to a
$1,178,000 (3.2 per cent) increase
to maintain the 1988 service level
and an $822,000 (2.3 per cent) in-
crease to provide additional ser-
vices in 1989.

Ald. Ernie Crist, in proposing
the budget, pointed out that the
tax rate on residential property had
actually been reduced from the
1988 rate of $6.29 per $1,000 of
assessed value to $5.55, but that
increases in residential property
values will result in a $60 increase
to last year’s municipal tax bill on
an average home assessed at
$148,000.

Ald. Joan Gadsby disagreed
strongly with the budget increase.
“This was not the year, in my
view, to add additional levels of
services to the District of North
Vancouver because of the tremen-
dous impact of assessment
changes,’’ she said.

Gadsby argued that approxi-
mately 12,000 homes-in the district
have assessments above the district

By MARTIN MILLERCHIP
Contributing Writer

average increase of 22 per cent,
and so will be paying more than
the $60 ‘‘best case scenario. In my

nine years on council, I have never
seen this kind of tax increase,’’ she
concluded.

Ald. Bill Rodgers itemized the
$822,000 increase: $108,000 on
general government (administra-
tion, personnel, planning);
$111,000 on protective services
(fire, police, building services);
$126,000 on public works (streets
and drainage maintenance);
$94,000 on health; $331,000 on
parks and recreation; and $52,000

3 = Wednesday, May 3, 1989 - North Shore News

Crews hustle to fix 3rd berth
following ferry ramp collapse

tossed into the water during the
incident. He was fished from the
water by a passing boat and taken
to Lions Gate Hospital, where he
was treated for shock and bruises.

Horseshoe Bay terminal manag-
er Ken Johnson said Monday the
pieces of the ramp had been hauled
out of the harbor by a barge and
crane.

The damage, he said, ‘‘is major.
It’s really mangled. The dock is

NEWS photo Mike Wakefleld

on community services (Arts
Commission and Family Court
Committee).

Rodgers concluded simply: ‘‘I
think it is money well spent.”’

In opposing the budget, Ald.
Craig Clark made the specific sug-
gestions that municipal depart-
ments should be subject to an an-
nual review or audit, and the
district’s non-renewable resource
of commercial and industrial land
should be leased rather than sold.

going to be down for a long time.”’

Bouchard said the accident
resulted from mechanical failure,
not operator error, but the precise
reasons for the collapse will be
unknown until the ramp has been
examined.

Johnson said failure in a cable,
pin or shackle was likely the cause
for the collapse.

Docks and ramps, Bouchard

said, were inspected regularly.

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WEATHER

Wednesday and Thursday,
sunny. Highs near 17°C.

Second Class Registration Number 3885

Mayor Marilyn Baker said the
budget vote was a matter of con-
science and that she thought the
proposed budget increases were
too high in some instances, and
still had to be coupled with school
taxes that are also expected to in-
crease. .

The budget was passed in a 4 to
3 vote with Baker, Gadsby and
Clark voting against.

See NVD
Page 5

City taxes remain below inflation rate

SINGLE-FAMILY homeowners in North Yancouver City
will be racing a 5.3 per cent increase in municipal taxes,
makiny this the fifth year in a row the city has been able to
keep tax increases below the rate of inflation, according to
the annual budget report released Monday.

It’s a budget that most of the
residential taxpayers should be
quite surprised with,” Ald. Bill
Bell said with approval.

The $.3 per cent tax increase to
existing homeowners is almost half
of the city’s projected 9.9 per cent
increase set out in its December
provisional budget.

And the report indicated that
Jow tax increases should continue
next year. With over $54.6 million
being spent in new construction
next year, the city is counting on
new property taxes generating
enough revenue to offset existing

| By CORINNE BJORGE |
Contributing Writer
homeowners’ taxes.

Strata owners will pay a 4.3 per
cent increase, and apartment
owners will be paying an average
of $40 less, a decrease of roughly
.2 per cent.

The report points out that the
direct municipal tax has actually
decreased since 1982 for most
property, owners, but that other
figures, such as school tax and
refuse tax have increased and

brought up the net tax figures.

Ald. Stella Jo Dean said the
burden of increased school taxes
made up a significant part of the
municipal tax increase. She said if
school taxes, which are set provin-
cially, were removed from the cal-
culations, the net municipal tax for
single-family homeowners would
drop from 5.3 per cent to roughly
three per cent.

Ald. Bill Bell criticized the’ pro-
vince for not taking more respon-
sibility for schoo! taxes, saying it is
“shifting (the) tax burden from the
province to the local taxpayers.””

North Vancouver property
owners pay one of the highest
school taxes in the province, with
the province setting formula pay-
ments based on land values.

An “inequitable situation’? for
property owners in the Greater
Vancouver Regional District is

created, according to the budget
report.

“Our council and staff are in
strong support of the committee
made up of GVRD directors and
school trustees who are trying to
negotiate a more equitable funding
formula for schools,’’ the report
said.

One of the largest increases in
the budget is a 66 per cent hike in
the cost of garbage disposal, fol-
lowing the final phase of the
Premier Street Landfill site
closure. The unit cost for garbage
disposal has risen from $34 to
$43.50 per ton in the last year, ac-
cording to the report.

The largest property increases
were for major industrial at 12.15
per cent, and utilities at 17.49 per
cent. The report says, however,
that these rates are still fower than
average GVRD ‘ates last year.