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Friday, December 17, 2010
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Walton will chair TransLink Mayors’ Council Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com
DISTRICT of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton has become the new chairman of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council, ousting Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender by a narrow vote. follow this story at nsnews.com
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
Think inside the box TOMO Hursthouse (from left), Emily Borrell, Andreas Zakardas and Laura Breese with the shoeboxes students at Irwin Park elementary have filled with toiletries, gloves and socks destined for Covenant House and the Salvation Army’s Harbour Light.
West Vancouver Mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones completed the North Shore sweep Dec. 9, unseating Port Moody’s Joe Trasolini for the vice-chair position. The North Shore mayors locked up leadership of the council at a pivotal time for TransLink. A proposal to pay for new projects — including the long-awaited Evergreen Line — entirely through property taxes faced such opposition among the mayors that Transportation Minister Shirley Bond agreed to give See Walton page 3
WV to look at 1.1% tax increase
Compromise suggested between a zero increase and staff’s 1.5% Tessa Holloway newsroom@nsnews.com
DISTRICT of West Vancouver council will raise tax rates in next year’s budget, but not as much as initially planned in an attempt to reach a compromise after two lively council meetings. The proposal, which would see a 1.1 per cent tax increase in
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the 2011 budget following no tax rate increase last year, is less than the 1.5 per cent increase staff strongly recommended as the least council should choose in order to maintain aging infrastructure and put money into nearly empty reserve funds. A tax increase of 2.3 per cent, which staff said was required to maintain existing service levels, was never seriously entertained. “It’s a gigantic compromise,” said Mayor Pam GoldsmithJones. To reach that, council chose to reduce the amount of money going into reserves while also cutting $800,000 from services that
would affect the tax rate, including landscaping, fire hall upgrades, a fire truck replacement fund and a portable burn unit among other projects. Another $215,000 was cut from projects that won’t affect the tax rate, but instead go to reserves. Monday’s council meeting was the second heated meeting on the 2011 budget. Leading up to the earlier Dec. 6 meeting, an email was circulated claiming West Vancouver would suffer if an “irresponsible” zero per cent tax increase was passed, as had been proposed by the Interested Taxpayers’ Action Committee. The budget process isn’t over, either. Staff will return to council with a more complete budget document on Jan. 10, and See Public page 3