NV District alderman against policy of
using land sales for road maintenance

A NORTH Vancouver District alderman is calling for an

end to a

trees-for-pavement policy pursued by

the

municipality to fund road reconstruction.

In a motion presented to North
Vancouver District council Mon-
day, Ald. Ernie Crist said it was
“fiscally unsound’’ to allocate
Jand-sale money for $1.8 million
worth of road reconstruction and
pavement overlay as well as
$173,000 for traffic signals and
street improvements.

Council is currently considering

REACHING

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

its 1992 municipal budget.

And Crist argues ‘‘that capital
land sale money should be used
either for true capital projects
such as community facilities, put

DOOR ON THE

Classifieds: Homes
under $200,000:

791 Baby album:

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

A WORKER appiies cement in front of the new $24-million potash storage
shed currently under construction at Neptune Bulk Terminals (Canada) Ltd.
in North Vancouver. The facility should be ready to accept its first potash
shipment in August. See story page 5.

into the heritage fund and (or) us-
ed for projects serving the com-
munity where money can be
repaid along with interest....’’

Crist further proposed
“any funds earmarked in the
operating budget for road
reconstruction, pavement overlay,
traffic signals and traffic street
improvements be listed separately
on the tax statement.’*

Said Crist Friday, ‘‘The princi-
ple of taxation on a municipal
level is that you tax people for the

that

services they receive. It’s a sound
business principle. In order to
look good sameone had the bright
idea of ‘why don’t we sell land
and take that money from land
sales and put it into road
maintenance.’

“Under the Municipal Act you
are not allowed to do that. It was
circumvented by calling it road
reconstruction. What the hell do
you do when you run out of land?
You look good but it’s actually
deception.”’

Added Crist, ‘““We cannot af-
fard to subsidize cars anymore.
We need that money for other
purposes."’

A municipality not able to draw
on a large land bank to fund capi-

NORTH SHORE SINCE 1969

tal expenditures may seek borrow-
ing authorization from voters
through a capital works referen-
dum.

Said North Vancouver District
Financial Services Director
Michael Hoskin, ‘‘Major road

“works are commonly done this

way. The effect is that the cost is
ultimately paid inrough taxes
because debt repayment is an
operating cost. The cost is spread
over the length of the borrowing
period.”’

Another option is to fund the
expenses directly through taxes.

But said Hoskin, ‘‘That’s fairly
difficult to do because unless you

See Land pege 3

“t