BASEBALL CARD GIVEAWAY PRESENTED BY:
VICTORIANEWS • July 16th • HarbourCats VS Bellingham Bells at 6:35 pm • Royal Athletic Park
On the boardwalk
Work will close Swan Lake boardwalk for summer Page A3
NEWS: Cougar spotted at Rithets Bog /A6 SPORTS: Vike’s Riva claims national 1,500m title /A10 ARTS: Farquhar Auditorium unveils new season /A15
SAANICHNEWS Friday, 10, 2015 Friday, July January 16, 2015
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Concert in the park
Jill Galt, Joe Heatherall and Bruce Ham with Queenie and the Groove Kings entertain the crowd at Majestic Park Tuesday for the Music in the Park series. Eugene and Colleen Liang (above) join their children Mikayla and Kaitlyn along with Kenzie Elliott as they kick up their heels on the impromptu dance floor.
Saanich puts tax hikes under the microscope Travis Paterson News Staff
The first of a three-part report by District of Saanich staff was brought to council on Monday, exploring why the municipality’s annual property tax increases are as much as four per cent beyond the consumer
price index. In the past five years, Saanich has increased property taxes 5.72, 4.63, 4.45, 3.97 and 4.65 per cent (in 2015). Each of those raises are no less than 2.97 per cent above the CPI for Victoria, the cost of living model generally used to measure tax hikes. Coun. Vic Derman was one of the first to
support an in-depth look at the matter. “I thought it would benefit council and the public at large to know what are the [significant] sources of Saanich’s costs and why this is taking place,” Derman said. “And what it really stems from is the problem of how to engage public input into the budget process. By the time it
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