THURSDAY
S I N C E
APRIL 24, 2014
1 8 9 5
Vol. 119, Issue 64
105
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INCLUDING G.S.T.
Pitmans wrap up season Page 10
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
MONTROSE
JADE’S LEGACY
No increase to property taxes in budget Focus turns to fixing village’s roads BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
The loss of regional services is boding well for taxpayers in Montrose. Although final approval on the $2.15 million budget is a few weeks away, it looks like the village of 1,100 will see a zero per cent increase in property taxes this year. The loss of regional services, in particular the sale of the regional airport to the City of Trail and the end of an economic development agreement, has Montrose owing less dollars to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary this year. That reduction offsets a three per cent “The road increase (about $60) maintenance the village is imposing on taxpayers for parcel tax will upcoming infrastrucnow fund a ture projects, leav10-year capital ing residents paying about $1570 on an plan to work on average house assessour roads.” ment of $236,500. KEVIN CHARTRES On Tuesday night, Montrose council gave the first two readings to the financial plan bylaw, with a public meeting on the budget set for May 5, 6:30 p.m. as a prelude to council’s final vote on the matter. The largest expenditure on the table, earmarks about $110,000 towards Montrose reservoir upgrades that include reinforcing the roof structures at the water storage sites. “Now that we fixed our water, we have to make sure we can distribute it,” said Coun. Don Berriault, referring to the village’s $1.5 million dollar new water system completed last May, that includes a new well, pump house and chlorination facility. After assessing the condition of village roads in 2013, Montrose is investing almost $50,000 this year to crack seal road surfaces, by redirecting $100 per taxpayer from a transportation parcel tax into a new road maintenance category. “This is one thing that stands out in this year’s budget,” explained Kevin Chartres, Montrose’s chief administrative officer (CAO). “The road maintenance parcel tax will now fund a 10-year capital plan to work on our roads,” he explained. “What we are trying to do is maintain good and fair roads in the village.” Since Montrose pulled out of a proposed See COMMUNITY, Page 3
VALERIE ROSSI PHOTO
J.L. Crowe Secondary Grade 12 student Jade Lewis is well on her way to leaving a legacy behind at her school. She's in the midst of creating “Jade's art attack,” on seven large plywood sheets decorated in stylized graffiti pop art. The collection of pieces will display the student code of conduct in Crowe's existing circular design elements.
School district struggles to balance books SD 20 ponders $870,000 budget deficit for 2014/2015 BY ART HARRISON Times Staff
In addition to dealing with current job action by the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF), which includes having to take over student supervision during recess, School District 20 (SD 20) administrators also face the daunting task of having to find almost $870,000 in savings in order to eliminate the budget deficit for the 2014/2015 school year.
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reduced
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At the April 16 regular meeting of the Board of Education, Greg Luterbach, SD 20 superintendent, submitted his proposed budget for the year, along with recommendations on potential savings that could be pursued. In spite of being on opposite sides of the union/ administration fence during a job action, Andy Davidoff, president of the Kootenay Columbia Teachers Union, doesn’t express hard feelings towards the local board. “The board has a very difficult, unpleasant and
unnecessary task in cutting over $800,000 from its budget due to chronic government under-funding of public education in this province,” Davidoff said in an email. “They have the unenviable task of deciding which parts of its budget to amputate; fingers, toes, or limbs.” The budget proposal will be presented for its second reading and public discussion at the board’s regular open meeting, Monday evening at the Kootenay-Columbia Learning Centre, in the former Trail Middle School. Included in the recom-
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mendations are many of the suggestions put forward in the board’s “long list” of potential budget alterations released in March, such as: the elimination of one trades position, the reduction of as many as four full-time teaching positions due to lower student enrollment, and a potential reduction of library staff. There are also potential changes to transportation strategies for students, ranging from charging for bussing services on a per-student yearly basis to eliminating See REVENUE, Page 2
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