Auto..........-.......32 Classified Ads..........38 Doug Collins............9 Editerial Page........... i) Home & Garden.........15 Mailbox................7 What's Going On........13 WEATHER Fridsy, cloudy periads with chance of rain. Saturday, mostly cloudy with showers. Highs near 10°C. Second Ciass Registration Number 3385 3 - Friday, December 9, 1988 - North Shore News NEWS photo Nell Luconte SANTA CLAUS gets a big hug from two of his biggest fans, Stephanie Coady, 4, (left) and Vanessa Coady, 5. The (rio dined together at a special breakfast at Lonsdale Quay last weekend. WV budget tries to keep mil rate down IN ORDER to offset prop- erty assessment increases that have hit West Van- couver especially hard, district council will strive to develop a 1989 budget that will help keep the mil rate (and taxes) to a reasonable level. By MAUREEN CURTIS Contributing Writer In his inaugural address Monday night, Mayor Don Lanskail named budget deliberations as an especial- ly important task ahead for the new council. The local ratepayers groups will be enlisted, once again, to have input in the formation of the budget, Lanskail announced. West Vancouver’s dispropor- tionate property assessment in- creases will have far-reaching ef- fects. Over 3,200 ratepayers will receive larger than average tax in- creases. With a total assessment increase of 37 per cent — as opposed to a GVRD average of 23 per cent — West Vancouver’s GVRD costs, which are based on assessments, will increase by 10 per cent. “‘In a very real sense West Van- couver is the victim of its own suc- cess. Its attraction as a residential community of high quality has escalated values,’’ Lanskail said. The assessment will also affect the distribution of school taxes, which are already unfair to West Vancouverites due to a ‘‘patently unfair formula for provincial ~on- tributions,’ Lanskail said. According to a GVRD study, GVRD municipalities pick up 40 per cent of school costs (compared to 24 per cent elsewhere in the province), resulting in a $130 mil- lion disproportional share of the costs, with $150 million projected for 1989. Lanskail said that Lower Mainland mayors will be pressur- ing Victoria for action on a ‘‘clear- ly unacceptable situation.”’ Lanskail said an immediate task of West Vancouver Council will be to resolve the issue of the development of 320 Taylor Way. The referendum held during the municipal election revealed that the community is in favor of reve- nue generating projects on the site (as opposed to a park). However, council must decide whether the results of the question asking resi- dents if they wanted the proposed twin tower development warrant withdrawal from the agreement with the developer. **I do not think that the result of the referendum constitutes any such mandate,’’ Lanskail said. But council cannot ignore the fact that slightly more than half of those who voted did not like the project as proposed, which Lan- NV. DISTRICT BUDGET TO RISE Baker takes airmm at Victoria MAYOR MARILYN Baker’s inaugural address to North Vancouver District Council Monday night listed some recent achievements, looked to some future plans and took issue with the province over highway improvements and property taxes. “The Doilarton Highway, which we understood was to receive pro- vincial funding at this time last year,did not materialize, and we are now looking ahead — yet again — to another provincial budget. allocating its share cf the works,”’ Baker said. “Similarly, much needed work on the Low Level road did not teceive provincial support. The promised Lonsdale overpass work announced in 1985 is still at an impasse, and we have a major bot- tleneck which needs immediate at- tention by the province at the Se- cond Narrows bridgehead,’’ she continued. Turning her attention to the challenge of budgeting services at a price that district property owners can afford, Baker said: ‘‘Changes at the federal and provincial levels which result in greater costs to municipalities or Josses in revenue result in an additional burden be- ing placed on the regressive prop- erty tax. It must stop.”’ “And in that regard,’’ she con- tinued, “‘the significant property assessment values which are higher in the Lower Mainland and con- tinue to rise at a greater rate than other areas in the province has resulted in a considerable inequity in our provincial share of funding — particularly for schools.”* “This inequity must be address- ed in the province-wide study under way over the coming year, but the 1989 additional load must By MARTIN MILLERCHIP Contributing Writer be addressed immediately,’? Baker concluded. : North Vancouver District forecasts a 7.18 per cent increase in its 1989 provisional budget to pro- vide the same level of service in skail believes stemmed from a belief that the height of the towers would rise well above Kapilano 100 nearby. But under the present agree- ment, council retains substantial control over design, Lanskail reminded the public. 198Y as it dia in 1Y88. ‘Ihe tax rate will not officially be set until lay. Anticipated increases in expen- ditures include a 3.91 per cent wage increase to district staff, a 3.02 per cent increase in waste disposal, a 1.45 per cent increase for the North Vancouver RCMP and a .6 per cent increase in library costs. A 12.86 per cent expenditure in- crease would be offset by a 3.13 increase in revenues for 1989, and a 2.55 per cent increase in tax rev- enues from new construction in 1988, totalling a 7.18 per cent in- NORTH VANCOUVER CiTY Taxes to rise: service levels remain A PROJECTED 9.9 per cent increase in North Vancouver City’s 1989 taxes will only provide funding for 1988 service levels, according to a speech read by the city mayor Monday night. “(The 1989 budget) does not in- clude any funding for new staff or programs, but will allow depart- ments to function at the same ser- vice level as 1988,’’ said Mayor Jack Loucks. Instead, new projects not pro- vided for in the budget will be ranked according to priority, and requests for funds will be reviewed by the Finance Committee beginn- ing next March, according to trea- surer A. Kenneth Tollstam’s report. Loucks said that increasing in- flation and ‘‘other factors’? would make it -difficult to achieve budgetary decreases like ones seen By CORINNE BJORGE Contributing Writer in the past. One of those factors is the losses seen in licence and permit revenue after building developments, in- cluding those in the Lower Lons- dale area, were put on hold pen- ding a city-wide view analysis. “Should all of the projects go ahead, we could obtain approx- imately $200,000 more in licences and permits, with an additional $175,000 in new property taxes,”” Tollstam’s budget report stated. The city also called for more The mayor went on to propose that the information flow to the community may be improved by publishing the municipality’s newsletter, West Vancouver See WV Page 10 crease for 1989 taxes. The total expenditure to run the municipality in 1989 is anticipated to be 4.86 per cent higher than in 1988. Baker rowed to continue the fight to improve bus service and retain maintenance of the buses on the North Shore. Other items of focus in the com- ing 12 months will include: @ a multi-material recycling pro- gram, © the establishment of a Centen- See Mayor Page 10 help from the provincial govern- ment in the 1989 fiscal year. “<(We) can expect some financial relief in 1989 to offset the unfair cost burden previously carried by the city and others in the operation of the North Shore Union Board of Health,’’ said Loucks. Loucks also said the municipalities would be ‘‘working together to convince the provincial government that it must take the necessary steps to correct (the) in- equity in school financing as soon as possible.’’ The 1989 projected budget will be adopted in January and is sub- ject to review vy the finance com- mittee in March. Last year’s provisional budget gave a projected tax increase of 5.7 per cent, which was cut to 3.7 per cent by the finance committee.