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School Tax Action Committee takes action

After boycotting his school taxes more than a decade ago to no avail, longtime local Hans Kögler says it’s time for a more aggressive approach.

After boycotting his school taxes more than a decade ago to no avail, longtime local Hans Kögler says it’s time for a more aggressive approach.

He suggests the municipal government should withhold all the school tax money collected this year on behalf of the province, over $30 million.

Although an impossible suggestion and not something the municipality would ever consider doing, it highlights the sheer frustration of many local residents who have been faced with increasing school taxes over the years.

School taxes are a function of the value of property. As property values continue to rise in Whistler, school taxes have been increasing accordingly.

"We’ve had nothing to do with this escalation in real estate values," said Kögler, a general contractor who has lived in Whistler for more than 30 years.

"Events pass you by and you’re left high and dry."

Galvanized by a possible 23 per cent increase in residential school taxes for 2003, a handful of locals recently started a grassroots campaign for tax relief in Whistler.

"We don’t want to be treated specially," said Paul O’Mara who organized last weekend’s school tax meeting at the Spruce Grove Field House.

"What we want is to be treated fairly."

Roughly 30 locals who attended the School Tax Action Committee meeting agreed to embark on an aggressive letter writing, e-mail and faxing campaign over the next week before the provincial government announces the school tax mil rate for the district in mid-April. The mil rate determines the amount of school taxes paid.

Through their campaign, they want the province to take notice of the working man’s plight in the resort.

"We’re not talking about the rich cats," said Kögler.

"It’s the people who live here, the backbone of the community who make the town tick."

Last year school taxes on the average single family home were $2,273. That number is expected to jump to $2,664 this year. Last year the average school tax bill in Squamish was $553.

The disparities between the two communities become even wider when the Home Owner Grant takes effect. The HOG is a $470 rebate from the government on homes worth less than $525,000.

This brought the average school tax bill in Squamish down to $83 last year.

That means Whistler homeowners paid 27 times more than Squamish homeowners in 2003.

As Whistler property values continue to rise, fewer homeowners are eligible for the HOG, exacerbating the inequalities within the district.

The average single family home in Whistler is valued at over $1 million in 2003. An estimated number of half the permanent resident homeowners, or roughly 1,200 homeowers, were eligible for the HOG last year in Whistler.

It is anticipated that has been halved again and only 600 will be eligible this year.

The average single family home in Squamish is $200,000 so more homeowners there qualify for the HOG.

"This is not an anti-Squamish statement," added O’Mara.

"This is not their fault."

Still, the fact remains that Whistler homeowners pay a disproportionate amount of the school taxes in the district.

Cathy Jewett, who was at the school tax meeting, said it’s important to highlight in the letter writing campaign the importance of having a vibrant working community in the resort, rather than focus on the disparities within the district.

"We can’t be going at this saying it’s not fair. We have to say, ‘here’s what’s in it for you,’" she said.

"We’re money-making machines... We have to make sure they understand that there’s value in keeping people here."

Another point raised at the meeting is that rising school taxes do not just effect the homeowners in Whistler.

"It’s not just the homeowners that are going to suffer," said local businessman Rick Clare who was at the meeting.

"It’s the kids."

Clare explained if the school taxes go up, landlords are likely to increase the rents.

"We could get more letters if the tenants were concerned about their rents going up."

The province will collect almost $22 million in residential school taxes in 2003 from the Howe Sound School District. Whistler will provide the bulk of that money, with almost $18 million contributed. That means Whistler is paying 81 per cent of the school district’s revenue from residential properties.

Last year more than $14 million was collected from residential properties in Whistler. That’s an increase of roughly $4 million in the past year or a 23 per cent increase in residential school taxes in Whistler.

"The public tends to forget that we’re committed to living and working here too," said O’Mara.

"People forget that we’re a community too. They see us as a ski resort."

Among the suggestions to lower the tax rate burden of Whistler homeowners, O’Mara said the government could revise the HOG cap, allowing all resident homeowners to receive a HOG of $470 regardless of property value.

There was also a suggestion that the government set a lower mil rate for Whistler, outside of the Howe Sound School District.

This stand alone mil rate was granted to the resort of Tofino last year because like Whistler, homeowners there were paying substantially more school taxes than the rest of the homeowners in the district. The new stand alone mil rate resulted in a 22 per cent decline in gross school taxes paid by residential property owners.

As it stands however the Howe Sound School District’s mil rate is already lower than other school districts because of the high value of houses in the area. In fact, it is the second lowest mil rate in the province.

The preliminary draft estimated mil rate for 2003 is 2.5644.

While that’s good news for Squamish, for Whistler homeowners that’s still works out to be a big school tax bill.

Despite a hard lobby by the municipal government there was no word on tax relief for Whistler even though the average Whistler permanent homeowner pays more taxes than the average homeowner elsewhere in the province.

The Ministry said this week that they were still working on Whistler’s unique problem.

In a previous interview with Pique Newsmagazine Finance Minister Gary Collins said the solutions are very complex.

"We’re trying to find a solution that works for the residents of the community but doesn’t provide unnecessary tax relief for (others)," he said, adding that those people who can afford to pay the taxes should still pay taxes.

O’Mara, who was one of 100 residents like Hans Kögler who refused to pay his taxes about a decade ago in protest, is determined to get the message across.

At Sunday’s meeting he said: "If we were really as wealthy as they make us out to be we probably wouldn’t be here."