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| CFO Corinne Bomben did the bulk of the talking at Tuesday's Special City Council Session |
As the Mayor, Five councillors in attendance and one on the phone took care of some outstanding business related to Permissive Property Tax Exemptions and some amendments to the Five year Financial plan related to work at Moresby Island and the Wooodworth Dam project.
The City's Financial Officer Corrine Bomben offered up the "Coles Notes" version of the required changes, the first on the Property Tax Exemption policy was to allow for a correction to wording of the policy passed in June of this year.
The change will see the inclusion of Not for profit Senior's Housing added to the relevant clauses that will be allowed to seek an exemption.
Councillor Randhawa was the only member of council to ask a question, seeking clarification as to how much tax revenue the City might lose by granting the exemptions. In reply, Ms. Bomben noted that there were already Seniors complexes on the Permissive Tax exemptions and that if the exemption was to be dis-allowed, it would not be much more than few thousand dollars back into the budget.
Council unanimously adopted the updated policy which will now allow not for profit operators of Seniors Housing to apply and be considered for a permissive tax exemption in the current cycle.
The Second Report was related to the request to make a pair of amendments to the Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, for the Moresby and Woodworth projects.
For Moresby Park, the work to remove the oil storage tanks was the focus of the discussion.
"In 2001 Council set aside funding for the future removal of above ground tanks in the Moresby area, the 2019 Financial Plan allocated a portion of the funding towards the study to determine the best course of action.
It was decided later this year that the best course of action would be to remove the tank in the current year, which had been damaged and repaired in the past.
This change will require additional funds which necessitates the proposed amendment of increasing funding by 675,000 dollars of the funds set aside and a further contingency of 100,000 dollars from surplus.
There is no impact to the taxpayers from the proposed amendment"
The second amendment to the Financial Plan addressed the work to take place on the Woodworth Dam, which is part of the City's rebuild of its water infrastructure.
On that theme Ms. Bomben once again, provided the main points of the request for the amendment.
"The second item proposed in the amendment is to revise the expected use of grant funds in 2019 for the Woodworth Dam construction and allocating the rest of the cost of the project to 2020 when the budget is expected to be spent.
This is simply an amendment to recognizer when transactions are expected to transpire"
The CFO also noted for the Council members that Notice of the proposed amendment had been posted on the City Hall notice board last Thursday, as well as on the City's website and how the public had been asked to submit comments and as of last Tuesday there had been no comments.
Though it should be noted that the long Labour Day weekend could have had some impact on the lack of attention to the notice from the public and any desire to comment.
Other than the inquiry from Councillor Randhawa related to the Tax Exemption change, the Council members had no questions for Ms. Bomben, nor did they discuss any elements of the work required for the Moresby Park project or, that of the Woodworth Dam project.
Leaving both perhaps to a later date for a public update for the public as to the progress and timelines of development for both and in particular why the additional funding for the Moresby project is required.
Some past background on the Moresby Park project can be found below
June 2019 -- City looks to move forward on Moresby Park tank removal plans
April 2017 -- City seeks request for proposals on Moresby Park removal and improvement project
March 2016 -- Council to receive update on Moresby Fuel tank removal project
October 2015 -- City to tackle environmental issues in Moresby Park
Notes on the Woodworth Dam plans can be reviewed below:
September 2018 -- Woodworth Dam construction plans revised towards 2019
May 2019 -- Greetings from City Hall to your door this week; as Prince Rupert Property Tax bills arrive
January 2019 -- Monday's City Council Water Review - Much of the same territory of the last month covered; along with a few new notes to share
December 2018 -- Rising Dam costs, potential curbside recycling plans make for questions at Council session
Dcemver 2018 -- City Council to hear final list of Capital Spending plans for 2019 at Council session tonight
October 2018 -- Decision made on Woodworth Dam contract, as City Council approves bid recommendation from staff
October 2018 -- Council members to hear report on Woodworth Dam bids at tonight's City Council session
September 2018 -- Woodworth Dam construction plans revised towards 2019
July 2018 -- City seeks Requests for Proposals for Woodworth Dam construction
The topic of the new dam also made for a frequent mention during the city's Boil Water situation from the Christmas/New Years period.
The Council members had no additional items of note to raise or discuss at their Tuesday session, making for a very brief get together for their Special meeting; they did however have a Closed Meeting earlier in the day which perhaps lasted a bit longer.
Some background on the items up for discussion on Tuesday can be reviewed through our notes from Tuesday morning.
While the Special Council Session, an open public meeting was not streamed live as the Regularly scheduled sessions are, the three minutes and fifty six seconds of civic governance is now available on the City's YouTube Archive, which you can view below.
More items of interest on the city's infrastructure initiatives can be explored on our archive page here.
While a wider overview of City Council discussion themes can be found from our Council archive.
To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.
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