3, Castlégar News November 22, 1989 Cuts may hurt cities Editor's note: As Ottawa aims to chop the federal deficit in half by 1993-94, Canadian municipalities mate losers. In the United because of federal funding cuts in the last es have had to red taxes and watch roads and bridges deteriorate WASHINGTON (CP) No New Taxes the Pledge of the Bush administration snazzy ad slogans that sounds too good to be true And officials in cities and towns across the Ur ¢ services, raise is like one of those States are warning that indeed there is a catch | ampaign promise George Bush rode to the Wh House So far the president has kept his word by refusing to bring in new federal taxes in his fight against the U.S deficit, But Americans face higher local levies, such a ‘We understand the serious- ness of the deficit, but you've got to be careful that in tackl- ng the deficit you don't strangle the economy or the municipalities in particular.’ — Ron Hayter, head of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities finance committee. property and education taxes, as municipalities try to replace money no longer flowing from a penny-pinching White House. In Canada, some¢ civic p s worry they could soon feel the same pinch Ottawa has pledged to chop its current! $30.5 billion annual deficit in half by 1993-94, The provinces are worried that will mean massive cuts in transfer payments from the federal government Under Canada’s trickle-down system of funding municipalities could be hurt the most as more senior levels of Municipal governments would also pay more for good government tighten the purse-strings and services under the proposed national sales tax, ad ding a new burden on their already strained budgets “UNDER SIEGE’ Everywhere we look we seem to be under siege by the federal gov said Ron Hayter, an Edmon ton alderman who heads the finance c Federation of Canadian Municipali We understand the seriousness of the deficit, but you've got to be careful that in tackling rnment ommittee of the he deficit you don’t strangle the economy or the municipalities in par ticular If there are massive cuts in payments from higher levels of government, Canada’s cities and towns could face the same problems t ommunities have been coping with throughow roads, cuts in police and f y taxes andhnew fees f During Ronald Reagan’s American cities lost billions of dolla president said — and other politician that municipal governments could be ficient In many cases, that happened. But in other area Particularly in ities where F already problem, opponents point out that Jeral for new capital project development disappearec Reagan year BURDEN SHIFTS A recent report by the U.S. National there's little hope things will get t The ledgets of local government show the reality of what happens when others say new taxes, Alan Beals, executive director of the League of “The burden is shifted, the taxes are shifted and the cities get clobbered.”* Most U.S. cities are required by state law to have balanced budgets, forcing many municipalities to slash services and projects. The league's report on financial conditions of 362 U.S. cities andtowns showed © Revenue growth is not keeping pace with in flation in 57 per cent of the cities. © Fees and service charges have been increased in 69 per cent, while 36 per cent of the cities imposed new fees * Nearly one-quarter had reduced their municipal workforces *F Property taxes had been increased in 41 per cent of the cities While Canadians have vented their anger at Ouawa over high income taxes and the looming national sales tax, in the United States it is the property tax that has spawned several rebellions. The most famous of these was Proposition 13, a alifornia cities from law passed in 1978 that prevents raising property tax rates to pay for increases in their operating budgets. While the measure has lowered property taxes and made local governments more efficient, communities don’t offer the same level of service they once did Two years after California started the tax revolt, upset that their property taxes endorsed Massachusetts voter were.among the highest in the country Proposition 22. The measure forced all municipalities in the state to reduce property taxes by up to 15 per cent each year until the tax.rate represented 2% per cent of the property’s full market value The Massachusetts communities responded with some innovative solutions: trash collection and other services were contracted out to private firms; volunteers paid for were used in libraries; corporate donations playground equipment; fees for parks and recreation programs were increased In Canad fees and property taxes And municipal officials are warming more incré the local level will be necessary in the next few years. , communities have already increased their main sources of revenue. ases at ‘The ledgers of local govern- ment show the reality of what happens when others say, new taxes The burden shifted, the taxes are shifted and the cities are clobbered.' —Alan Beals, executive direc- tor of the U.S. National League of Cities. We start the service with a certain dependence upon the senior levels of government and all of a sudden aid David O'Brien, chief ad f Ottawa continue it (the funding) goes, tor forthe City 01 The only way to minis that service is To in ase taxes or increase the fees that people have to pay to get the services. administrator of O'Brien is the former chief Gloucester, Ont., an Ottawa suburb that recently hiked erty taxes by 29 per cent. He said about five percen age points of the increase was necessary because On tario has frozen unconditional grants to municipalities The rest was needed to build up a reserve fund ‘tc )sition Ourselves to be in good shape three or four years down the road.when this whole impact hit I don’t think we would ever get into the state of n the States, but at the same time I apital deterioration that i can say that we are not going to be as able to do ¢ projects as we have it * says O’Brien Hayterof the Federation of Canadian Munic the past warns there could be no money to im; road bridges and other municipal installations that millions »f Canadians depend on daily Cancer expert testifies MONTREAL (CP) — The British scientist. who first linked tobacco smoking to lung cancer in 1950 painted a sombre picture of smoking aiid early d@ath at a civil trial Monday Sir Richard Doll, a tall, white-haired scientist Of 77, said heavy smokers can expect to live six years shorter than non-smokers Doll, an epidemiologist who studies people rather than in. dividuals to determine diseases, was called from Oxford as an expert witness in the case of two tobac co companies trying to overturn a federal law which bans cigarette adver groups of causes of tising Smoking 20 cigarettes a day doubles the risk of lung cancer, Doll said, and the risk of getting cancer after 20 years of smoking is 16 times higher than after 10 years of smoking Doll acded that cigarette smoke contains. some 4,000 chemical com: 20 cause cancer in laboratory These plutonium, nickel, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and formaldehyde pounds, of Which animals include Doll said research since 1950 has confirmed that smoking causes cancer “| know of no cancer researcher who questions that opinion. I’m confident itis 100-per-cent proven Ss BRITISH COLUMBIA RENTAL SUPPLY PROGRAM PHASE II CALL FOR PROPOSALS The British Columbia Housing Management Commission (BCHMC) invites proposals for new rental housing projects in areas throughout the Province with vacancy rates less than 2% The goal of the B.C. Rental Supply Program is to encourage projects suitable for farnilies and seniors, which will remain in the rental market for a minimum of five years. Interest costs will be reduced for selected projects which meet Provincial objectives. Sealed proposals must be received by the British Columbia Housing Management Commission no later than 4:00 p.m., Friday, January 19, 1990. Information packages are available at the following BCHMC offices, or by calling Mr. Jack Merkley at 433-1711 @ BCHMC - Lower Mainland 1701 — 4330 Kingsway Burnaby, B.C. VSH 4G7 @ BCHMC - Victoria 201 ~ 3440 Douglas Street Victoria, B.C. V8Z 3L5 @-BCHMC - Interior 290 Nanaimo Avenue West Penticton, B.C. 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Grey Cup The CasNews views today’s championship game pre CFL te S Se aN WSs CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1989 WEATHERCAST Today: Mainly cloudy with snow tapering to flurries | the valleys. Highs neor derr-Glovdy -withr-sormy perio and @ slight™chance of Highs near 2°. Probab cipitation is 80 per cent today ar 30 per cent Monday pe pe y of pre 3 Sections (A, B&C) unhappy with water By CLAUDETTESANDECKI Staff Writer Workers at the Celgar Pulp Co. mill in Castlegar are not receiving an adequate supply of fresh drinking water despite water regulations recen tly issued to the company by the Cen tral Kootenay Health Unit, officials of Local | of the Pulp, Paper and Wood workers of Canada say But Celgar assistant mill manager Jim Browne said Friday the water may have been sub-standard two weeks ago but the mill has worked to comply with all regulations issued after a Nov. 14 meeting with health inspector Andr Hall, Those regulations are now being met, Browne said The union ‘‘had a legitimate dom plaint”’ before the meeting with Hall, Browne said, since the w around the mill wasn’t being changed every day But the cooler bottles are now being cleaned every day and|the water is being changed every day, Browne said, adding the concerns over the water have been a ‘high priority’’ for mill officials. The cooler system, taken from the City of Castlegar’s chlorine-treated water supply, has been in place at the mill since July when the company announced workers should no longer drink the mill's water Health unit tests had found the water to be contaminated. However. the union says the mill is still not complying with all the regulations, Calvin Him said Friday For instance, there are not as many coolers as there are fountains and not all the fountains are shut off, meaning workers can still drink contaminated water, Him said Browne said there are ‘likely more"’ coolers than fountains and all the fountains have been shut off and signs posted stating why However, someone keeps turning the fountains back on, he said, adding the company is having the valve han: dies removed on fountains officials find turned on. Him said the bottles are still not being cleaned properly because cold water is being used. But Browne said a health unit official told the company cold, clean water is fine for washing out the bottles since it's the action of the bleach being used as well that disin fects the bottles and kills bacteria The union is also concerned that it has taken the mill so long to get a new, permanent water system in place Celgar informed its workers in July that a suitable decontamination system was being sought and Browne said Friday it has taken some time to find a suitable system. The mill is now waiting for the health unit to approve the new system which will take water from the river and pass it through a chlorinator before it enters the mill The union is worried, however, that if the system is not approved the com pany will have to start over again in its search for a suitable water supply, Him said Browne said all the union's concerns have been addressed and he is sur prised they are still saying the water supply is not up to standard “It's not a perfect system but it’s pretty fair’? for the time being until a permanent supply can be hooked up, he said ater in coolers using water second vice-president Costlegar firefighter Lindsay Anderson juggles a bear and a basketball Saturday during th efighters’ annual drive to collect toys for ne dy children during the holiday season. The firefighters will continue to accept toys until Dec. 7. cosnews phon re " Board rejects move to set future pay By CasNews Staff Regional Central Kootenay directors Saturday defeated a move to have the outgoing board in the year prior to an election set the base pay and annual increases for the new board which would be sworn in after the election Area K director Bill Cuthill said he made the motion following negative comments he has heard in the wake of recent hefty pay hikes elected boards particularly the Vancouver school board — havevoted themselves “It strikes me that probably the ap- propriate time (to vote on) remuneration is not on the incoming Cuthill said. ‘It would give the outgoing board the opportunity, based on ex perience, to set realistic (pay) levels." Cuthill said having outgoing direc tors — since they would have no way of knowing if they'd be re-elected — vote on remuneration would ‘‘remove the taint of conflict of interest.’” However, Cuthill’s fellow directors, while agreeing with the ‘philosophical intent’’ of his motion, balked at han deuffing future directors “I'm not really disagreeing with director Cuthill’s motion (but) I don’t think we should shackle future boar ds,"’ Area F director Earl Hamilton said Area A agreed District of side but on the outgoing side,”” director Larry Brierley “L recognize (Cuthill’s) good intent but ... new boards must have the reedom to set their own policies,” he said Area I director John Voykin noted that future boards may have more or fewer responsibilities whieh _pay-rates set by previous boards may not fairly compensate And Voykin pointed out that voters have the ultimate say on directors’ decisions “If they don't like it (directors pay), they can turf us out after three years,”” he said Changes in provincial legislation governing local elections has eliminated staggered elections and terms of varying length. Starting in November 1990, the full slate of regional district directors will be elec ted for three-year terms. Municipal directors will continue to be appointed by their respective councils which will also be elected every three years All RDCK directors or alternate directors receive $141 for each regular or other meeting of the board they at tend. Rural directors receive an ad ditional $471 curred in carrying out RDCK business. to cover expenses in Directors appointed to RDCK committees receive $71 for each com- mittee meeting attended. Directors authorized to attend other meetings on behalf of the regional district also receive $71 The chairman of the board, in ad dition to any of the above expenses, receives an additional $503 per month Increases in remuneration for the directors-are_generally-set-at-or neat pay increases given to regional district staff RDCK calls for logging inquiry By CasNews Staff The Regional District of Central Kootenay board of directors voted Saturday to ask Premier Bill Vander Zalm to immediately establish a royal commission or commission of inquiry on forestry practices in the province The recommendation for the inquiry, which came from the RDCK’s resources committee, passed with little discussion “We do think it’s very importan said Area J alternate director Svend Dahl-Jensen of Deer Park, sitting in for Ken Wyllie Dahl-Jensen said watersheds are areas of particular concern and the risks of logging in such areas should be assessed before permits are issued Area J, particularly the Robson Raspberry area, is plagued by water problems which many residents have attributed in part to logging inthe area’s watershed Wyllie, ina letter to Area J residents, says logging in watersheds, par ticularly on private lands, “has been the source of increasing’ risk of irreparable damage.” “I support a moratorium on such logging unless and until proper regulations are implemented,"” Wyllie writes. ‘‘Safeguards must be provided to protect against such logging, with compensation to remedy any damaged watersheds.”* _ The RDCK request says an inquiry should * Conduct a full investigation of the forest inventory, forest tenures and the sustainability of the current annual allowable cut for all Crown and privately owned forested land in B.C Investigate means to protect all forest uses, including domestic water sheds, fish'and wildtife, tourism, hun ting and trapping, wilderness, old growth forests, and native concerns: © Conduct a thorough examination of current silvicultural practices, wood use and export prac- tices and recommend appropriate im provements needed to sustainable, wholistic forestry; * Investigate to protect future —jobs—for workers; © Recommend means. available to B.C.’s forest industry to minimize detrimental effects of global warming; and F © Recommend means to effec tively deal with conflict resolution and fully incorporate decision making input in. resource achieve ways loggers and—mill local management Coroner's jury says drowning was preventable By CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Staff Writer A coroner's jury has provided 13 recommendations along with its fin ding that a Nelson man’s death by drowning last July in Trail was ac cidental but preventable The five-man jury listened to twe days of testimony last Rossland courthouse concerning the death of William Edward Cavanaugh, 28, who was part of a crew of four men working beneath the Victoria Street bridge last summer Eighteen witnesses testified in cluding a pathologist, the first RCMP officer on the scene after the scaf folding came loose from the bridge and the men fell into the Columbia River professional engineers, Workers Compensation Board officers and Cavanaugh’s The jury's recommend. concerning the design suspended work platfor ted toward M and T Fabricators, company in ch; of the work WCB and the Professional Engineers Association of B.C The jury recommended * mandatory inspections of scaf continued on page A2 Local Socred expects ‘green light for road By CLAUDETTESANDECKI Staff Writer A Castlegar contractor and community promoter year All this adds up to the government ** tation Task Force recommendations released earlier this looking at says it’s only a matter of time before ‘the provincial government announces the go-ahead for an extention of Highway 23 along the Arrow lakes north of Castlegar that he has been lobbying for since 1970 George Evin, a member of the Rossland-Trail Social Credit Constituency Association, bases his prediction on talks with various ministers during the recent Social Credit convention in Vancouver and let ters of support he has received from cabinet ministers and local municipalities and organizations As well, a feasibility study on the extention of Highway 23 was included in the top-priority, zero-to five-years category in the Kootenay Region Transpor Castlegar more seriously now,” the new focus on thé community following Celgar Pulp Co.'s October announcement that it plans to expand and upgrade its Castlegar mill area in 1988, ‘* Kootenays and now is, the opportune time to put pressure on the government and get a commitment Evin says, noting also Premier Bill Vander Zalm, during his visit to the promised to ‘reach out and link up’ in the Evin says. “It makes common sense that now is the right time."? Evin wants to see the highway, which now ends at continued on a2