|
I have just recently returned
from holidays and it is obvious that City Hall has been as busy as ever
while I was away. I would like to thank Councillor Russ Gibbs for taking
on a lot of my workload during my absence.
We are slowly working
towards finalizing the Mt Mackenzie Official Community Plan (OCP). This
will be the subject of another public hearing, mainly because of changes
that are being contemplated; as well we want to get out as much
information to the public as possible. The OCP process we have been
going through with both Arrow Heights and Mt Mackenzie has really
brought to the forefront the age and relevancy of our current citywide
OCP. Council has decided to start as soon as possible a new citywide OCP
review. This will be a two year process with the budget set for this
year of $100,000.00. The OCP is basically a guide on how property is to
be used in the future.
This past week saw
another Trans-Canada Highway meeting of Mayors and Regional District
Chairs as well as MP's Colin Mayes, Jim Abbott and MLA Kevin Krueger.
The group has asked if I would be chair and spokesperson to try and make
our ultimate goal of Highway upgrades become reality. I have always
tried to advance this project as a major priority and was pleased to be
asked to be chair. When we met with Minister of Transportation Kevin
Falcon last year he made a commitment of 125 million dollars a year for
10 years if the Federal Government matched that dollar for dollar. This
is the message that I will be taking to Ottawa, hopefully sometime in
early June. With the help of both Colin and Jim I feel the timing has
never been better for this project to become reality. The past work of
"Revelstoke for A Safe Trans-Canada Highway" Committee was acknowledged
as one of the main catalysts for seeing work done in the Kicking Horse
Canyon. Public pressure does work and I would encourage everyone to
write to the Federal Minister of Transport Laurence Cannon and let your
views be known on this. As well I would like to give a big thank you to
all the people that devoted so much time and energy to our highway
committee.
It was great to read in
the paper about the sale of the burned out ‘Howson’ building. I have
talked with the new owner only by phone and if all that is being planned
is done, we will have a great addition to our community. I know we are
looking forward to this building getting fixed up.
The last item I would
like to report on unfortunately is, ‘it's tax time again’. You will see
a pretty detailed summary of this years financial plan in the paper, as
well you can view it on our website at www.cityofrevelstoke.com. Please
take the time to review the plan and write to Council if you have any
concerns or observations – this is your opportunity to be heard. This
year’s property tax increase slated for 6.5% with the major portion of
that being 5.0% going towards the cost of the pool. This should be the
last increase for any capital costs towards the pool and if any future
increases are necessary it would be for operational expenses only.
Water, sewer, and garbage utilities will see an across the board
increase of about 2%. If you require any more garbage tags over and
above the 2 per week the price will be $2.00 each. This is the first
increase in 10 years. The easiest way to explain this year’s tax
increase is, if you have a house that was assessed at $200,000.00 in
2005 you will pay about $86.00 more this year.
Thank you.
Mark McKee
|
