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996 ~ North Shore News

BC Rail to
pay ratlway
neighbors

Grants-in-lieu cash flows

A_ LONG-ANTICIPAT-
ED grants-in-lieu pro-
gram will put BC Rail
cash in the coffers of local
municipalities, but less
money than they desired.

By lan Noble
News Reporter

On Friday, ‘Victoria
announced municipalities and
regional districts along the
BC Rail corridor will receive
$2 million worth of grants in
lieu of property tax.

BC Rail, a $1.5-billion
North Vancouver-based
provincial Crown corpora-
tion, is exempt from paying
propezty taxes to municipali-
ties, Until now, BC Rail did
noi pay grants in lieu of those
taxes either.

- Whistler Mayor Ted

Nebbeling said he welcomes
_ the payments. .
> But he added the $2-mil-
{ lion program will only pay
& Municipalities one-third of a
® $6-million bill that private
3 enterprises would pay on the
#- same lands,

Nebbeling, the provincial
Liberal candidate for West
Vancouver-Garibaldi, said his
major concern is that the

rf grants-in-lieu program repre-
sents another give-away in the
run-up to an anticipated
11 provincial election. “I consid-
\ er this just another part of the
‘whole package of gifts that
_ are being bestowed upon this
.province right now by the
NDP government.” Nebbeling
‘Said. oe ,

‘There’s no guarantee the

payments will be made after
‘1996, he said. -

But NDP . North
Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA
David Schreck said money
will continue to be paid out

‘after the interim program
‘under a revamped BC Rail
Act.
“The BC Rail Act has been
» amended so BC Rail will be
“ paying grants in lieu of taxes
‘like some of the other Crowns
:. (corporations) do,” he said.
:, B.C. Ferries and B.C. Hydro
‘both pay grants in lieu to
municipalities.
’ -- Lois Boone, the minister
of municipal affairs, said a
_ 1997 grant program may dif-

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fer from the 1996 program.
Broader reforms to railway
taxation must be finalized and
their implications on local
governments must be known
before a permanent BC Rail
grants-in-lieu program is
implemented.

Under the recently
announced program, the
grants in licu will be based on
current assessments of BC
Rail propenies according to
local tax rates.

West Vancouver-Garibaldi
Independent MLA David
Mitchell, who has fought fora
BC Rail grant program, called
the government's grant
announcement a “big break-
through.”

He added the cheques to
municipalities, which are
expected to be delivered in
July, mark a first for a corpo-
ration that has not paid prop-
erty tax since it was formed in
1912,

BC Rail, a chronic cash-
loser until the late 1970s, is
expected to generate a $47-
million profit this year.

With that, profitability and
the BCR Group's diversifica-
tion into real estate, telecom-
munications, and a deep-sea
terminal through subsidiaries
BCR Properties, Westel
Telecommunications, and
Vancouver Wharves, EC Rail
Group is a prime candidate
for privatization, _—_said
Mitchell.

Mitchell expects privatiza-
tion to happen, and BC Rail to
be required to pay full proper-
ty taxes after that occurs.

Lions Bay Mayor Brenda
Broughton, the: NDP candi-
date for West Vancouver-
Garibaldi, agreed the amount
for her village under the grant
package is not adequate..

Under the interim grants-
in-lieu program for 1996, the
following local communities
will benefit:

@ North Vancouver City,
$15,199.01; :

@ North Vancouver District,
$63,268.26; —_
@ Squamish
$219,053.19;

District,

West Vancouver District,

$69,007.04;

B Whistler, $30,369.10;
Lions
$2,664.55;
@ Pemberton, $3,644.30.

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