RDOS payment from Town to go down
A number of adjustments in how the RDOS does business will reduce the amount Town residents pay taxes in 2012.
A lot of the burden of running the regional district government is being loaded onto rural residents because of a new “time tracker” system of keeping record of who works on what projects at the Penticton office.
CFO Warren Everton, in a presentation to Town of Oliver council, says the cost of government is going down about 11 thousand dollars and therefore the overall cost on the average home will be reduced 2.85% over the amount paid last year.
In 2011, the average tax rate per $1000 of assessed value would be $1.24 going down to $1.12.
Here is a list of some costs for regional services:
911 Call System $25269
General Government $49321
Refuse Disposal (Dump) $55392
Museum $71174
Tourism $14600
Venables Auditorium $33288
SIR $16564
Okanagan Basin Water Board $47983
All grant monies coming into the RDOS will also be split in favour of rural areas as one way of compensating for this shift of burden. The largest big ticket item in Oliver is Parks and Recreation and that budget shows an increase of 2.86%. That is the joint service governed by a society board of directors from rural and town.
Arena $178732
Pool $117954
Community Hall $81307
Recreation Programs $59959
Parks $136519
The overall reduction in dollars (year to year) equals $26,580
Jack, I wanted to report that I received answers to all my Budget questions at the RDOS meeting tonight. There was a long Q&A, and an opportunity to explore several other concerns not related to the Budget. Sadly, attendance was limited to about 20 people. Mr. Patton was not aware of the conflicts with his meeting and said he will be looking into new ways to improve communications between Rural Area C Residents and the RDOS.
Good morning Jack,
It could be that I haven’t had my second cup of coffee. Are you saying that the RDOS will be charging rural residents more taxes in order to pick up the loss (reduction) in the tax collected from Oliver Town residents?
I girl has to wonder, why the RDOS didn’t bother to put this information on their own website? That and having a public meeting (tonight at 5pm) when most people are still at work or eating dinner, the same night as our Rural Fire Department practise, and the same night as the Penticton, RDOS Trails Master Plan meeting, could give one the impression that the RDOS is hoping no one will show up at their Oliver meeting? There’s a great TED.com talk about how some governments create apathy in their communities, their example looked a lot like this scenario.
No need for you to reply Jack. I’m taking a loss in pay to go to tonights meeting. I have booked a sitter and will eat my dinner at 4pm, so I can get my answers tonight from Mr. Patton at the RDOS public meeting.
As for the other important meeting in Penticton, I’ll just have to hope that they don’t pass some crazy bylaw that will prevent ATV’s and horses from accessing the KVR trails and Crown land (don’t get me started…).
Thank you ODN for keeping us in the loupe!