$77 MILLION BUDGET
WV tax increase pared to

WEST VANCOUVER District

Council took to third

reading Monday a $77 million budget for 1989 which will
mean a 6.4 per cent tax increase to the aver-ge taxpayer.

Mayor Don Lanskail com-
plimented municipal manager
Terry Lester for paring an earlier
budget with a proposed 12 per cent
increase down to a 10.4 per cent
increase.

Further relief, resulting from a
high incidence of new construction
in the district (and accompanying
revenues), absorbed a further four
per cent of the increase.

“Nothing short of a miracle,’’
was what Ald. Rod Day called the
budget reduction.

The $77 million dollar budget
allows $42 million for operating
expenses, 16 million for non-
operating capital and $17 million
in collections for other agencies.

The cost to the ‘‘average”’ tax-
payer with an average assessed
value on his residential property

By MAUREEN CURTIS
Contributing Writer

will be $2,591 less the $430 home-
owner grant ($700 for seniors).

Residences are being taxed a
total of $9.74 for every $1,000 of
assessed value, or $5.41 /$1,000 if
the municipal portion is counted
without school district and provin-
cial taxes.

SECOND HIGHEST TAX

The $5.41/$1,000 is the second
highest on the North Shore, com-
pared with $5.06/$1,000 in North
Vancouver City and $5.54/$1,000
in North Vancouver District.

An average West Vancouver
commercial enternrise assessed at
$522,963 will pay $13,848, or

$26.48/$1,000 of assessed value
(only $9.61/$1,000 for the
municipal portion).

In order to maintain a fair tax
share between residential and
commercial properties, despite in-
creases in residential assessments,
the tax ratio between the two sec-
tors has been changed so the shares
remain equitable — but the com-
mercial component still remains
the lowest on the North Shore,
Horwood pointed out.

The $77,364,300 the municipali-
ty requires will come from the fol-
lowing sources: $28,342,300 in
taxes and utility payments,
$5,942,400 in sale of services and
other sources, $7,860,600 in gov-
ernment grants, $16,142,000 from
borrowing, donations and reserves
and $19,077,000 in collections for
other agencies.

On the spending side, the $42
million operating budget will be
divided up to provide the follow-

3 ~ Wednesday, May 10, 1989 - North Shore News

ing: $2,844,000 for general gov-
ernment, $11,303,700 for protec-
tion (police and fire}, $3,312,800
for environmental heaith, $629,100
for public health, $381,800 for en-
vironmental development,
$6,489,400 for transportation and
transit, $7,600,106 for recreation
and culture, $4,650,500 for debt
charges, $741,000 for sundry
(fiscal), $100,000 for contingency
and $4,023,300 for the current
capital program.

LIBRARY FUNDS CUT

Some of the items cut from the
earlier budget included $400,000
for the future library expansion,
and funding for a number of storm
sewers, sidewalks and fire depart-
ment equipment.

Ald. Alex Brokenshire noted
some of the expenditures that were
left in the budget, such as funding

4%

for the conclusion of the
Ambleside Revitalization project, a
new radio system for police and
firemen that wiil eliminate some of
the “black” spots in West Van-
couver and more support for cul-
tural endeavors.

Council also decided against the
recently developed option of
“‘capping”’ residential assessments
to provide some relief to those
with 15 per cent higher than the
average land assessment increase.

**After much debate we decided
that it would not have the effect
we hoped for,’? commented Ald.
Mark Sager.

Unlike the City of Vancouver
for whom the capping procedure
was tailored, the situation in West
Vancouver is such that many de-
serving residents would get no
relief, while others would end up
with a decrease that would take
them below the average.

Waterborne ambulance officially launched

A NEW MARINE search
and rescue boat, operated by
the North Shore Lifeboat
Society (NSLS) and equip-
ped to function as a water-
borne ambulance for the
Indian Arm area, was of-
ficially lauached at a recent
ceremony in Deep Cove.

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporter

The society took delivery of the
27-foot Hourston Glascraft in
January, and has spent the past
few months outfitting it with
communications equipment; and
radar, fire, pumping, towing, per-
sonai safety and first-aid equip-
ment.

The $35,000 boat replaces a 17-
foot Hourston which served the
Indian Arm area last year.

Said NSLS vice-president Bruce
Falkins: ‘“The last boat was far too
smail to do the job.”’

The new boat augments the
search and rescue capability of the
Canadian Coast Guard based in
Vancouver.

“The Arm is quite a remote area
for the coast guard. It can take
them 35 minutes to respond from
False Creek,’’ Falkins said.

Last year the society responded
to 24 rescue calls in Indian Arm,
ranging from multi-vessel colli-
sions to the towing of disabled
vessels.

The new boat is bristling with
first aid equipment thanks to a
working arrangement between the
North Vancouver unit of the Pro-

vincial Ambulance Service and the THE NORTH Shore Lifeboat Society,
Reynolds, wife of West Vancouver-Howe Sound Mi. John Reynolds,

NSLS.
Said ambulance unit chief Tim

Jones: ‘We have immediate access
to a boat that ‘vill get us up Indian
Arm. It’s a bonus for us.’’

bottle.

To beef up emergency response
to the area, coast guard and am-
bulance service members have

Parkgate mall tender called

TENDER HAS been called for the development of a new
shopping centre at the corner of Indian River Drive and

Mount Seymour Parkway.

The district is selling approxi-
mately 7.4 acres of land zoned for
comprehensive development.

The Seymour Official Com-
munity Plan identifies Parkgate
Centre as one of two main com-
mercial centres proposed for
Seymour. The district plans to de-
velop recreational facilities adja-
cent to the retail centre.

While earlier efforts to develop
the site for commercial use were
fruitless, recent interest expressed
on the part of the development
community resulted in the tender
call.

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporter

Said North Vancouver District
Ald. Craig Clark: ‘I guess we’re in
the shopping centre wars. A group
of people may come together with
Safeway. Safeway is indicating
they’d like to put a store out
there.”*

Clark said the tender call will
close by the first week of June.

North Vancouver District Mayor
Marilyn Baker said the district has
been meeting with a number of

developers over the last two years
in an effort to get the Parkgate
commercial development under
way.

“One of the key components
seemed to be the holdings of
Safeway. Discussions commenced
last September with Safeway. It
finally came to a point where they
said there was a window of oppor-
tunity to move,”’ Baker said.

Clark, who is chairman of capi-
tal projects for the North Van-
couver Recreation Commission,
said a successful tender on the
shopping centre would bring the
proposed recreational component
of Parkgate closer to a construc-
tion start — possibly by 1991.

identified 19 medivac helicopter
emergency landing areas along
both sides of the Arm. A disaster

a

Ns

Lifestyles
Mailbox

response exercise using the new
boat is planned in the Arm for the
end of July.

;
la
i

Photo submitted

a Canadian Coast Guard auxiliary, has launched a new waterborne ambulance in Deep Cove. Yvonne
was on hand along with her husband and other guests April 29 to smash the

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