THE following are brief
summaries of topics on
the agendas of North
Shore municipalities and
school boards:

North Vancouver District

Council: Monday, March

27 at 7 p.m, — proclama-

tion: Local Government

Awareness Month (April);

development and sale of

district land re residential

housing and commercial

projects; development vari-

ance permits for: 2861

Edgemont Blvd., 511 Crestwood Ave. and Aircare Facility

Centre at 1333 McKeen Ave; bed and breakfast regula-

tions/clarification of che number of home occupations
ermitted; bylaw to establish two classes of bed and
reakfast businesses and clarify accredited training pro-

gram requirements and to establish signage regulations;

designation of small lot infill areas, Lynn Valley Plan

implementation; reconsideration of options for a new

Deep Cove youth outreach agency; award of towing con-

tract; regulation of gas station service requirements.

North Vancouver City Council: Monday, March 27 at 7
p.m. — proclamations: Trans Canada Trail (official mil-
lennium project), Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse
Awareness (April); OCP revision; tax-rate distribution
options; crosswalk improvements at intersection of
Lonsdale Ave and 11th and 8th St.; Federation of
Canadian Municipalities, Community Energy Technical
Mission; progress report on the implementation planning
process for strategies for regional arts and cultural devel-
opment; rezoning application, 705 W. 2nd St.; rezoning
and OCP re 121 E. 12th St.; report entitled, Lonsdale
Elementary School; report on Youth Violence; space and
location needs of community service providers; tri-munic-
ipal business licences; provision of receptacles and plastic
scoop bags; landscaping at the Civic Plaza and city hall.

West Vancouver District Council: Monday, March 27 at
7:30 p.m. — zoning bylaw to permit a neighbourhood
public house at 2427 Marine Dr., Dundarave Cafe; set a
date for development variance permit for 6640 Marine
Dr; greenbelt, Caulfeild land use contract re Vista Place
subdivision; new charges on beverage containers; request
for noise bylaw exemption re CIBC Corporate Real
state.

West Vancouver School District 45: The next regular
board mecting is Tuesday, April 11 at 7 p.m.

North Vancouver School District 44: The regular board
meeting on March 28 is cancelled. Next board meeting to
be announced. Finance and Facilities meeting is Tuesday,
Aprii 4 at Leo Marshall Curriculum Centre.

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Council
considering
3.9% increase
for 2000

Jan-Christian Sorensen
Contributing Writer

ONE thing is clear:
the tax rate is on the
rise in North
Vancouver City.

How that increase will
apply to different property
classes, however, is still a
bone of contention among
city councillors.

At its regular weekly
mecting Monday 9 night,
council voted in favour of a
recommended 3.9% hike in
200 tax rates as part of its
Five Year Financial Plan.

The increase would come
in the form of a 2.9% operat-
ing levy with the remaining
1% dedicated to future spe-
cial capital projects.

Coun. Barbara Perrault
sparked a debate when she
suggested that council freeze
business tax rates at 1999
levels and shift the tax bur-
den to industrial and residen-
tial taxpayers.

That would have meant a
6.1% increase for residential
taxpayers instcad of the
agreed-upon 3.9% -~- an extra
cost which Coun. Darrell
Mussatto said he could not
support: “6.1% is just not
acceptable. That is too oner-
ous an increase for house-
holds in North Vancouver to
absorb.”

Coun.

Perrault main-

reserve earty to avokt disappcintment

516 -C0FS (2.

p44 /] Some restrictions may apply.

20 Marine Dr., North Van

tained that the rate freeze
was necessary to foster
increased economic develop-
ment and sustainability in the
city’s business sector.

“Small businesses are
eking out a living,” she said.
“It’s important that we be a
business-friendly council and
the business community
know that we are sympathet-
ic toward their problems.”

She scoffed at the added
cost to residential ratepayers
— a $16 increase in the esti-
mated $33 per year for the
average household would
have been imposed had the
across-the-board increase
been adopted.

“That’s four trips to
Starbucks, guys,” she said.

The bulk of the operatin:
levy increase — 2.5% —
stems from an RCMP con-
tract increase estimated to be
$630,000.

Coun. Darrell Mussatto
said that the RCMP had been
without 2 pay increase for far
too long and it was past time
for the city to settle up.

“I think that our taxes
have been kept low for the
last couple years on the backs
of the RCMP members,” he
said. “They have been paid
less than what they should
have. Now it’s catch-up
time.”

Couns. Mussatto, Craig
Keating and Bill Bell all took
Ottawa to task for not ear-
marking adequate funds for
the police force.

“This would have been far
less an increase had the feder-
al government responsibly
raised (the RCMP’s) wages
over time,” said Coun. Bell.
“The vast majority of this
increase is poing to cover the
irresponsible actions of the

Shore owned & operated

[SAY ILO TO A PUB IN

DUNDARAVE

Attend the Public Meeting
Monday, March 27, 2000

7:30pm at

West Vancouver Municipal Hall

750-17th Street

a THE FRIENDS OF DUNDARAYE, IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY. vs vy ne est22

Sunday, March 26, 2000 — North Shore News - 5

federal government.

“We're passing this huge
increase onto taxpayers and |
don’t like doing that.”

Coun. Beb Fearnley criti-
cized the initially-proposed
3.9% increase, saying that the
tax rate was rising faster than
penple could pay for it.

He suggested that council
had pot made enough cuts to
its operating budget and
might have spared the tax-
Payers a rate increase through
more creative budgeting.

“¥ don’t think we’ve real-
ly tried seriously to cut
back,” he said.

Coun. Keating, who sup-
ported the across-the-board
increase, saw the 6.1% pro-
posal as the continuation of a
“nasty trend” in the
province.

“Jurisdictions are compet-
ing against each other in a
sace to the bottom, to lower
tax rates to attract business
and claim that ‘we’re being
the most business-friendly’.*

He added that providing
rate relief for one sector at
the cost of another might
only serve to pit residential

jal

taxpayers against business
and that council might ulti-
mately reap the whirlwind.

“When residents in single
family homes get a tax bill
that says 6.1% they will say
it’s ‘us versus them’ and
unfortunately the ‘them’ in
that equation is going to be
city council. It’s not going to
be business.”

North Vancouver resident
Doug Orlick questioned
council’s rationale in raising
tax rates at ali.

I'm just reeling here
tonight,” he said. “You're
lucky it’s not election year.”

Coun. Perrault’s preferred
option was also defeated,
which led Coun. Bell to
make a motion that council
consider a 2% increase for
business as a more equitable
way of providing incentives -
to business while not penaliz-
ing residential taxpayers too
heavily.

Council passed the resolu:
tion and asked staff to stud
the option and report bac!
on their findings at the next
council meeting Monday
night.

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