NEW RESOURCE CENTRE OPENS TODAY
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RIVER TRAIL GROWS WITH EACH YEAR
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YOUR CAR IN NEED OF SPRING CLEANING?
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Former BCIT instructor Mark Angelo has been inducted into the Fraser River Hall of Fame. See Page A3
FRIDAY
MAY 2 2014 www.burnabynewsleader.com
Taxes to rise 1.97% Down from initial proposal of 2.47 per cent Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
The Burnaby Youth Custody Services centre is losing seven correctional officers and gaining more residents after the B.C. government announced it was closing a youth custody centre in Victoria.
Concerns raised of risk of violence Tension in Burnaby youth custody centre could rise with closure of Victoria facility Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
The decision by the B.C. government to close a youth custody facility in Victoria will only increase the tension and the possibility of violence at the Burnaby Youth Custody Services Centre, said the union chair for correction and sheriff services workers.
Dean Purdy, of the B.C. transferred from Vancouver Island Government and Services when that facility closes is “a double Employees’ Union, said the whammy,” said Purdy, whose Burnaby centre members provide will lose seven fullsecurity, core time correctional programming and officers as part work with the youth Dean Purdy, BCGEU of the cuts that to get them back on The type of resident we were announced track. see is more dangerous, more volatile. on Monday by Cadieux said the Children and province’s three Family Development Minister youth custody centres, in Victoria, Stephanie Cadieux. Burnaby and Prince George, are That, coupled with the addition “incredibly over-resourced” and of new residents who will be there’s ample room in Burnaby
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to accommodate youth from Vancouver Island. Youth from outside the southern part of the island could go to Prince George. The Burnaby facility houses about 45 to 50 kids, said Purdy, a number that stays fairly constant. But, said Purdy, placing youth from Vancouver Island in Burnaby isn’t as simple as loading them onto a ferry. He said they’ll lose their rapport with staff they’ve grown to trust, as well as the support of nearby family. Please see 20 ASSAULTS, A4
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Burnaby homeowners will see their property taxes go up by 1.97 per cent, less than originally proposed in December. The increase equates to a hike of $26.82 bringing taxes to $1,549.22 for the average home assessed at $660,847 in 2014, said city finance director Denise Jorgenson. The tax increase is necessary to fund wage increases set out in union contracts, operational and inflationary increases and new services, such as the opening of the new Edmonds Community Centre. But it’s less than the 2.47-per-cent jump originally proposed in the provisional budget. Coun. Dan Johnston, chair of the city’s finance and audit committees, said that was thanks partly to “new growth in the Brentwood and Metrotown areas that were higher than we anticipated with new construction.” The growth adds revenue through building permits but more significantly, from new homes added to the property tax base, Johnston explained in an interview. see ‘NO MAJOR’, A4