Pent ane ee MAYOR DEFENDS BUDGET WV ratepayers beef over 16.4% tax hike WHILE SYMPATHETIC about the tough financial situa- tion facing West Vancouver District this year, local ratepayers groups registered their concern recently over a proposed 16.4 per cent municipal tax increase. Mayor Don Lanskail began district council’s annual budget discussion last week with the rep- resentatives of local ratepayers by explaining how the increase in property assessments (up an average of 39 per cet) and various funding inequities Have translated to a municipal loss iaat will run in- to the hundreds of thousands of dollars. “This has compounded the usual challenge of budgeting for a municipality which relies almost exclusively on a residential tax base," he said. A proposed $25,231,800 budget would be raised through the 16.4 per cent tax increase, of which new construction would absorb about 3.1 per cent, leaving 13.3 per cent for existing taxpayers. Last year’s revised budget of WEST Vaacosver Mayor Don Lanskail ...mznicipality losing hundreds of thousands of dollzrs. $21,675,200 would have to be in- creased by a tninimum of I1.!1 per cent im order to maintain current service levels — thanks to built-in increases in operating budgets, the funding shortfalls mentioned and debt payments from last year’s revitalization work and property acquisition. Before revision, this year’s pro- posed budget would supply general government revenues of $3,179,200, protection services (fire, police, etc.) with $10,490,200, the transportation department with $2,477,400, en- vironmental health with $2,516,100, public health with $457,600 and recreation and culture with $5,241,700. Mayor Lanskail reminded ratepayers that about 40 per cent of the taxes the municipality is col- lecting will go to the school district, whose budget will increase by more than 12 per cent. The various ratepayers groups criticized some of the items in the proposed budget, but stressed the importance of others. Capt. George Murrell of the Ambleside Dundarave Ratepayers was negative about the various community organizations that the municipality contributes to regu- larly. “Everybody seems to want to get their snouts into the public trough,’’ said Murrell, who thought that jocal taxpayers should contribute to such organizations on an individual basis. But Lanskail argued that the wide range of services provided by these groups is necessary for a healthy society. By MAU N CURTIS Contributing Wrrier “If you did not support them, the government might have to Move in and supply the services themselves,’ said Lanskail. One municipal grant recipient, North Shore Family Services (NSFS), was represented by Martin Roberts and Arlene Gladstone, who made a plea for the continued annual! support of about $30,000. The organization handles about 1,000 cases annually, some of which Gladstone said related to cases of sexual abuse and problems faced by teenagers. “At some time or another, at least one member of each family is likely to have a problem that they need help with,’’ Gladstone said. West Vancouver Ald. Pat Boname added her assurances that money donated to agencies such as NSFS was ‘‘well spent as preven- tative medicine."’ . Calls for a more self-supporting Tecreational and culturai sector were answered by sivnicipal man- ager Terry Lester, who said West Vancouver recovers approximately 55 per cent of its recreational costs, the highest in B.C. (Van- couver recovers 27 per cent). Rob Inman of the British Pro- perties Ratepayers Association (BPRA), which represents some of the households hardest hit by property assessment increases, suggested the municipality push for an increase in the homeowner grant. The BPRA wants another $1.5 million cut from the budget, dut Inman stressed that it shouldn't ovine from work being done at the Bagle Harbor Community Centre or the road repair budget. “If anything, we need more cap- ital expenditure on roads,’’ said Toman. Jim Macarthy, also of the BPRA, said council should do some “belt tightening,’’ and keep to ites for which there is an *fassured and immediate paydack.’’ West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce representatives called the proposed tax increase excessive and begged council to place less pressure on the commercial sector. An estimated $61,000 for dock work on Eagle Island should not come out of the budget, submitted Dennis Culver, who pointed out that island residents do without many municipal! services. Lorne Topham of the West Vancouver Community Arts Council requested that the municizality make the running of Klee Wyck part of the its operating budget, rather than funding it through grants. Gleneagles Ratepayers repre- sentative Roy Bartholomew Pointed to Vancouver’s use of a capping procedure to alleviate the disproportional assessment in- creases. But Lanskail said West Van- couver is contemplating a five-year “rolling average’ tax plan that would, like the Vancouver plan, smooth out the peaks and fill in the valleys. Bartholomew seggested a citi- zens’ finance committee be estab- lished, an idea that was supported by Doreen Biackburn of the West Vancouver Citizens for Good Government. 3 ~ Friday, March 24, 1989 — North Shore News cs NEWS photo Tom Burley BRUCE WARBURTON of West Vancouver and his dog Fergusen enjoy the sun and snow on a recent spring morning at Cypress Bowl, NV tenants call for rent controls TENANTS FACING rent increases between $70 to $130 a month urged. Worth Vancouver City Council Monday night to intervene on their behalf. “Somebody has to start ques- tioning the soaring, rental rates,”’ said Cedar Village Townhouse te- nant Janet Dysart. She said recent rent increases were between 12 and i4 per cent — the second large reni increase the townhouse tenants five faced in the past three years. Of the 17 suites thar had receiv- ed rental increase notices, nine had already made decisions to move, said . But, she said, it costs the tenants more than just money when they are forced to relocate. “There’s a tremendous social upheaval with (moving to; new schools and new houses,’’ said She said that as well as urging the developer to attend a public meeting to address tenants’ con- cerns, the city should take a stronger lead in pressuring the provincial government to introduce new rental measures. Add. Stella Jo Dean urged the ci- ty to take action to aid tenants. ““We can't just sit silent and let these rents increase,’’ she said. “People just can’t afford to live in areas that they’ve lived in all their lives.”’ Council agreed to invite the owner, IntraWest Realty Ltd., to attend a meeting. Ald. Bill Bell said the owners would be asked to explain the rent increase. He said that while the ci- ty cannot iorce the owners to reduce the rents, they could use Flipping not From page 1 stabilize with inventory catching up to demand. Single-family houses listed for sale in North Vancouver have gone from 173 in early January to 657 as of March 22, with ‘otal listings for the area of 778. Mitten estimated the number of new listings being added daily in North Vancouver was now at around 60, which he said is start- ing to put the market in a more healthy state. Listings inventory throughout the Greater Vancouver region has risen from 5,472 in February up to 7,168 as of March 22. The wild market in the first two months, Mitten said, resulted, in part, from the combination cof By CORINNE BJORGE Contributing Writer “moral persuasion’ to influence IntraWest. “They called us the city fathers in the old days because we were supposed to look out for the city residents,”” he said. ‘‘I don’t think they (IntraWest) want to see the local government upset with them.”” Council also voted to ask the provincial government to rein- troduce a rentalsman to hear te- nants’ grievances, and they re- quested reintroducing rent con- trols. Ald. John Braithwaite said he supported the concept of a rent- alsman. **We all- know cases of unneces- sary and unaffordable rent in- creases,” he said. But Bell said it was unlikely the provincial government would opt for a rentalsman position. According to Bell, provincial Minister of Social Services and Housing Claude Richmond has said his department has adopted some of the responsibilities of the rentelsman’s office and would probably not see 2 need for a sepa- Tate position. There is currently a provincial tenancy board that will advise on rent increases and evictions, but it has no power to intervene and me- diate between the tenants and the landlords. Bell also argued in favor of rent a problem, small inventory and dig Gemand. “The industry is pleased with the way things are going,’’ Mitten said. He added that a crash similar to what followed the boom market in 1981 is not anticipated primarily because the current economic situ- ation is better than it was then. He disagreed that buyers were inflating prices by paying tao much for available housing inven- tory. “No one,’ Mitten said, ‘‘can determine what is too much...competition is the deter- mining price.’’ He said the market remained a sellers’ market but not as much as earlier in the year. Angell said comparisons could controls. He said he was not sure if they worked, but felt they did con- trol “‘rent gouging." Bell said it was unlikely that the provincial government would res- pond to pressure from municipalities to reintroduce rent controls, ““At the social policy meeting with cabinet there was unanimous consent among the (ministers pres- eni) that rent controls stop housing and apartment development and make developers unwilling to in- vest,”” he said. Clark said that not only do rent controls not work, but by asking the provincial government to im- plement rent centro! policies, council was in conflict with a previous commitment to ensure the provision of social housing. ‘“'They (council members) wanted to build social housing and put rent controls on,’’ said Clark. ““You can’t subsidize all sides of the equation, and that is what they want,”" Council defeated a separate mo- tion to encourage the provincial goverament to eliminate off-shore investment. Clark argued against the motion by citing Australia, Sweden and France as examples of countries that have unsuccessfully experi- mented with limitations on off- shore land purchases. Clark said it would not be wise to pressure the provincial govern- ment to sell only to Canadian resi- dents. **Vancouver has become a world-wide popular place to be. (The rents) will reflect this,’’ he said. realtor says be made to the boom market in the early '80s, but he added that the current market is more stable because of the continuing inflow of out-of-town money and because a lot of the deals, particularly those involving Asians, were cash purchases, which placed less strain on available mortgage moncy. Mitten said speculative flipping that occurred in the °81 market was not happening this time around, primarily because ‘‘the real estate industry has taken a very responsible position on this...and has educated the public to know what to accept and what not to accept. It (flipping) will happen in any market, but it’s not a crucial factor this time around.”’