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Budget open house draws anxious crowd

With prospect of a 20 per cent tax increase, community members grill RMOW officials on spending
1612loader
Tax Dollars at Work A loader piles high Whistler’s fluffly life blood. Taxes in Whistler could increase by 20 per cent over three years.

Taxes increases are always hard to swallow.

Tax increases during hard economic times are especially tough.

Last Thursday, roughly 45 community members packed into the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre theatre to hash over municipal spending - and question why the municipality is considering a 20 per cent property tax increase over the next three years.

"I don't mind paying a bit of property taxes," said one apprehensive community member. "But if mine go up 25 per cent (over four years), and I am going to have to pay to park, that seems like a lot."

Another person asked: "Where do you expect the taxpayer to come up with this money?"

"I want to remind you that the sticky, greedy claws of two other governments (the provincial and federal) are already in our pockets."

Front of mind during the two-hour event was whether municipal hall is spending too much on staff salaries, since wages and benefits account for 60 per cent of the municipality's operating expenses.

To that skepticism, Lisa Landry, general manager of economic viability, said the municipality has become more prudent with its hiring.

"We aren't hiring unless approved by council, and council has not approved any new positions yet," said Landry.

"We have not replaced two vacant planner positions, one administration position and a project manager; and we replaced a general manager position with a manager position."

Chief Administration Officer Bill Barratt also said he expects significant staff attrition after the 2010 Olympics.

"I know there will be attrition after the Games, and I haven't filled any positions that have left," said Barratt.

"We have a nine per cent turnover, and we are not that big an organization. In my view, we are efficient."

But both Landry and Barratt said with the Olympics coming next year it is important that Whistler has enough staff.

"We have the largest event Canada has ever had coming here," said Barratt, when asked whether the municipality is obliged to maintain staff levels.

Community members also were concerned that staff at municipal hall would see a wage increase this year - while many in the community will likely see a decrease in their incomes, and some businesses are facing 30 to 40 per cent drops in revenue.

Landry said a few years ago the municipality signed a contract with their employees to get them through the Games. The contract benchmarks municipal wages to six other municipalities in the Lower Mainland.

"If we tried to roll back wages, CUPE would be up here immediately," added Barratt.

The backbone of Thursday's meeting was the newly minted long-term financial plan, a policy document put together by a panel of economic experts from across the province.

Among many things, the plan strongly recommends the municipality increasing taxes 20 per cent over the next three years, starting this year. Last year, taxes went up 5.5 per cent.

A three-year tax increase is necessary, reads the plan, to bridge a $5.7 million shortfall expected to accumulate between now and 2012.

In other words, explained Landry, the tax increase would amount to 16 extra dollars for every $100,000 of assessed value in 2009, and $14 extra dollars in 2010.

"For a $600,000 place, that means an extra $96 this year, and $84 next year," said Landry.

"For a $1 million place, it means $160 more this year and $140 more next year."

Landry said while the municipality is not locked into the 20 per cent property tax increase yet, "it is wise."

During the meeting, Mayor Ken Melamed also stood up and told the crowd that councillors, too, are not happy to increase taxes since they are taxpayers.

"We are not living in caves," said Melamed.

"We are trying to get as broad a perspective as possible, but there are harsh realities. The brainpower on the steering committee was not haphazardly chosen... Our options are very limited."

Whistler 2020 was also a hot topic.

"It seems we are basing our whole future on Whistler 2020, which was set when the economy was booming," said one person.

Added community member Scott Carrell: "Maybe we could do a review of Whistler 2020 a year ahead, instead of waiting until 2012."

To demonstrate that Whistler's capital and operating expenses are in line with other ski towns, Landry benchmarked the Resort Municipality of Whistler against three communities in Colorado: Vail, Aspen and Breckenridge.

"In looking at the numbers from a high level, everything looked pretty consistent," said Landry.

She added, though, that the U.S. municipal governance model is very different than the Canadian one. For example U.S. municipalities get the lion's share of their income from sales taxes. But there aren't any communities in Canada that are readily comparable to Whistler, either.

A draft of the long-term financial plan is available on the municipality's website at www.whistler.ca . Council will look at the five-year financial plan on April 7 and the tax rate bylaw on April 21.

Barratt also encouraged people to e-mail both him and Landry if they have additional questions.