Archive for July, 2011

Mayor Daykin clarified for Council some issues that came forward from the Workshop of July 18, 2011. The Mayor confirmed that, last week, Coquitlam Council adopted the implementation agreement that was developed as a result of the process that was held to address Coquitlam’s concerns with the RGS. On July 25, 2011, Coquitlam Council was scheduled to vote on the adoption of the Regional Growth Strategy. The version of the RGS that Coquitlam Council is voting on contains the same wording that has been approved by all other municipal governments that are part of Metro Vancouver. Assuming Coquitlam Council passes the RGS, the Metro Vancouver Board will vote on the strategy on July 29, 2011.

Paul Gill, General Manager: Corporate & Financial Services, made a presentation [PDF, 470KB] to Council that explained the underlying principles that are used to determine the District’s tax rates for property classifications within our community.

Mr. Gill explained that other levels of government have a variety of taxing options – they tax spending or consumption with the Goods and Services Tax and Provincial Sales Tax (or the Harmonized Sales Tax where it has been enacted). They also use Income Tax as a method of raising the funds necessary to run government. While these are the largest revenue sources for senior government, they also have other mechanisms to generate revenue.

Mr. Gill noted that municipal governments, unlike the federal and provincial government, do not have access to such a variety of revenue sources. As well, they must pass balanced budgets and have very tight restrictions on borrowing. This creates a strong discipline around financial planning and budgeting.

Mr. Gill explained that ‘Property Tax’ is essentially a wealth tax. The amount of tax paid on a property is based on the value of the property as reported by BC Assessment, an organization that is independent from BC municipalities who use market-based tools to determine the value of a property from year to year.

The tax rates vary from community to community, largely due to the property assessments that they have to work with. Generally speaking, municipalities with larger assessed values have lower tax rates. Rates are also affected by the priorities and infrastructure that need to be dealt with. In Maple Ridge, an extensive year-round financial planning cycle is used that includes public input, extensive reviews by Council and detailed presentations as part of public meetings prior to Council voting on the budget for the upcoming year. In addition, our Council has developed a number of policies that guide the development of budget planning to ensure that there is a high degree of accountability in short term planning as well as the development of funding for the long term maintenance and replacement of infrastructure.

The ‘tax multiple’ is a term used to describe the relationship of one tax rate with another. Mr. Gill demonstrated that a great deal of caution needs to be used when looking at the tax multiple without examining the underlying figures that create that multiple.

Maple Ridge has a number of property classifications, but this presentation focused on the two that are most often quoted in advocacy positions, Residential and Business/Light Industry.

To easily explain this complex issue, Mr. Gill showed two properties, one in the Residential class and one in the Business/Light Industry class, both valued at $300,000 in 2008. He then applied actual market value changes to those assessed values and showed the resulting impact on the tax rates and tax multiples. The analysis demonstrated that it was the change in the value of properties driven by market conditions from 2008 to 2011, that changed the ‘tax multiple’ between Residential and the Business/Light Industry properties, not a deliberate policy decision. He also demonstrated how the actual taxes paid by a property class varied over that same period based on the different rates that property values rose and fell by. Even this small sample of five years demonstrates that the values of Residential and the Business/Light Industry properties go up and down at very different rates.

Mr. Gill also spoke of how, as part of the ongoing financial planning, we constantly review our tax rates to ensure that local rates are very competitive when compared to neighbouring communities.

Mr. Gill explained that he and Mayor Daykin met with a business advocacy group last fall and went over our taxation policies. They saw the analysis and diligence that is used to ensure tax fairness for all classifications and left the meeting complimenting us for the work we do and expressed their hope that others applied the same thought and discipline around taxation policy.

Tax multiples do provide some information, however great care must be used in making sweeping generalizations about multiples as there are many factors that drive the multiple from year-to-year. Finally, any change in tax policy for one group has an effect on the taxation of another group. Council members expressed their desire to have this presentation made to local business advocacy organizations so that there is a better understanding of the issue in the business community

Fred Armstrong, Manager Corporate Communications made a presentation [PDF, 305KB] to Council outlining the work that has been done to move the District on to Social Media sites to support the broad communications goals of the District.

Social Media sites have gained enormous popularity in the overall population, and for many citizens of our community they have become an important way of connecting and sharing information. The District has been developing a presence on a number of Social Media sites and will begin rolling them out formally over the next few months.

 The District has created three profiles on the most widely used Social Media sites: Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. All three sites use a common name to help citizens access them as part of their online interactions. The District of Maple Ridge can be found by typing ‘yourmapleridge’ on all three sites.

 These sites will be used in conjunction with the District website to help direct citizens to information on emerging issues, new programs and to promote community festivals and volunteerism.

Facebook will be the first focus, and the promotion of the District site will begin in the ‘Maple Ridge This Month’ advertisement at the beginning of August. Other sites will be promoted as part of a staged roll out after summer.

Mr. Armstrong demonstrated the sites and showed how Facebook requires a person to ‘like’ the page in order to get the updates that are posted. The District’s goal is to have 1,000 people that ‘like’ the site in one year. Twitter and You Tube have very different user profiles than Facebook, and as part of the 2012 business planning presentations the strategy and efficient use of these sites and resources required to best use these tools will be outlined.

 Mr. Armstrong noted that the sites are very closely monitored by staff, and that usage guidelines will be posted on each of the sites as part of the roll-out. District communications streams will remain non-political and great care will be taken during any election, federal, provincial or local, to ensure that candidates do not use the District’s sites for personal or electoral party promotion.

Liz Holitzki,Director of Licences, Permits and Bylaws, made a presentation [PDF, 164KB] on a property that has been subject of an untidy premises clean up order. The written report demonstrated that the owners have been making an effort to clean up the property. A number of factors, including the wet weather in the spring have made the clean up a challenge. Based on the continued progress, Council granted a 60-day extension for the owners to complete their work.

This Saturday our community is celebrating the completion of the Downtown Enhancement Project with a street party and official ribbon cutting across 224 Street at McIntosh Avenue.

For more information, click on the link here: http://mapleridge.ca/EN/main/municipal/media/media/archives/news-release_dep_celebration.html