The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 12, 2000 - A9 NTL, BIG BAND EXTRAVAGANZA Dinner & Dance on \ Saturday, April 15, 2000 at the Thornhill Community Centre Featuring the Terrace Community Band's BIG BAND Cocktails 6:30 PM Dinner 7:30 PM Music & dancing 9 PM ‘til 1 AM $50 per couple TERRACE. STANDARD > ACE LEGION AUX] will be hosting a Business REVIEW Assessments drop for second straight year But don't count on heights, Protheroe said, while homes . in the. bench area of Terrace have a reduced tax bill moved very little in value. | By JEFF NAGEL experience different markel changes 7 ed ee atea homes fell * and a number of other factors in- . & secon fluence assessed value, Protheroe straight year in the 2000 property says homeowners. shouldn’t be assessments released last week. alarmed if their assessment has But since that’s the general trend changed more than average. for local property this year, a modest “Property values do not change drop in your home's assessment ‘uniformly from one year to another,” - won’t necessarily translate into a he said. drop in your property taxes in June, The average assessed value also That’s because city council routi- blends together everything from bare nely adjusts its actual tax rate up or lots to large apartment buildings. down to make up for fluctuations in Property owners can challenge overall assessments. The end result assessments they believe are wrong. is that homes with a typical assess- The deadline for requesting an inde- ment change often end up paying pendent review of assessments is much the same as the previous year. Jan. 31st. This year the average residential In recent years a number of high- assessment fell 3.7 per cent from a valuation of $130,824 in July 1998 to sessed at just over $10 million, ac- way commercial property owners saw property values skyrocket after a value of $126,131 as of last July cording to B.C. Assessment Authori- Ist. ty area assessor Tom Protheroe. sn? ingly difficult goal due to back-to- back years of slow new construction — a home’s assessed value would likely have to drop by more than 10 per cent this year to experience a noticeable decrease in taxes, or rise by more than 5 per cent to feel a significant tax increase. It’s the second straight year house assessments have dropped, falling an average 9.8 per cent fram peak lev- els in 1998. The city’s total tax base — the value of all residential, commercial, industrial and other property — has fallen from $831.5 million two years ago to $787.5 million in the latest | assessment . The 2000 figure would be even lower were it not for the addition this year of the airport and surrounding lands following the city’s boundary extension. The new city land is as- MAKE A DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR TO ATTEND! For further information or tickets contact Lissi at (250) 635-2158 the development of two big box re- tail outiets. but failed to challenge Hf council succeeds in again hold- ing the line on taxes — an increas- Residential assessments fell most sharply in Thornhill and Thorn- Out & About Jobless rate headed down here in 1999 UNEMPLOYMENT in the northwest slipped anoth- er tenth of a point to 8.8 per cent in December, ac- cording to Human Resources Development Ca- nada. The year-end statistic means the Nechako/North coast jobless rate fell a total of 4.2 per cent iboo at 9.0 per cent are higher. While unemployment has fallen from very high year ago — the rate rose last month in the Thom- er Mainland. .- wo! average up to 8.2 per cent. The national unemployment rate held steady at 6.9 per cent in ‘December, down from 8.0 per cent a year earlier. all now have have unemployment rates below six per cent, while the numbers are 10 per cent or higher in all Atlantic provinces. New owner pharmacist/owner of the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy here. to Quesnel late last year. 1984, working first in North Vancouver before moving in 1985 to Penticton where he’s been ever since. “The opportunity came up to be an owner and we heard Terrace is a growing community,” said Leong who is married with two children. The pharmacy here has 25 full time and part time employees. through 1999 from 10 per cent at the end of 1998... Only the Kootenays at 9.2 per cent and the Car- levels in the Cariboo — it was at 15.8 per cent a - _son-Okanagan, Kootenays, Northeast and the Low- The regional increases, “drove the ‘provincial 1 Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta - STEVEN LEONG is settling in as the new - He took over from Jim Motokado who moved Leong graduated as a pharmacist fram UBC in - | MacKay’s Funeral. Service Ltd. _ Serving Terrace, Kitimat, Smithers & Prince Rupert Monuments Bronze Plaques _ Terrace Crematorium Concerned personal service in the Northwest since 1946 4626 Davis Street Terrace, 8.C. V8G 1X7 fara Sann Phone 635-2444 * Fax 635-635-2160 24 hour pager The Mt. Remo Backcountry Society would like to thank all those who helped make our raffle a success. Aquabatic Sports All Seasons Source For Sports Don Diego’s McBike Shop Northcoast Health & Fitness Center Onion Lake X-couniry Ski Club Shames Mountain Ski Corp. ~ Valhalla Pure Outfitters Weathertech Services .their assessments in time to avoid massive tax increases, Hotels quick to attack tax idea HOTELIERS here have been quick to mobilize against a renewed attempt to set up a two per cent room tax here. Eighteen local hotel, motel and fishing lodge operators have signed a petition opposing the tax idea. There’s no concrete proposal yet to add the two per cent tax to the bill for a local hotel or motel room. But the Terrace Tour-: “ism” Council is eyeing the! y \Gax once again as a source © of revenue to replace dis-. sappearing city and federal grants. Tourism council coordi- nator Rana Nelson says a new source of money is needed to finance the council’s tourism promo- tion activities. “We're still looking at the various options that there are,” she said last week. The room tax would likely generate at least $50,000 a year and would put Terrace on equal foot- ing with Smithers and Prince Rupert, which al- ready have the tax. “We are strongly op- posed to this tax and would like the Terrace Tourism Council to con- sider other options for gen- erating funds to finance your operations,” said Costa Lessa Motel owner Diana Faber in a letter ac- companying the petition. “It’s unfortunate they’re not on side,” Nelson re- sponded, adding she’d like to hear the hoteliers’ ideas on what to do. “If they don’t want to- use this fine give us other options,” she said. When the tourism coun: | cil was first- formed three or Email lsorensen@os vitation to Sealed tenders, marked T00-00002, Department of Fisheries and Oceans - Canada, Branch Office Addition/Renovations, Smithers, BC, will be received by British Columbia Buildings Corporation at 3732 Opie Crescent, Prince George, BC, V2N 4P7, until January 27, 2000, at 3:00 p.m. local time, and opened in public shortly thereafter. Tender documents may be obtained on and after January 12, 2000, from the above address. These documents are available to general contractors only upon receipt of a refundable deposit of a certified cheque or cash in the amount of fifty do!lars ($50,060), payable to the Corporation. Deposits will be refunded upon satisfactary return of tender documents within one month of tender closing date. Plans and specifications may be examined at the Bulkley Valley Lakes District Construction Association, Smithers; Terrace-Kitimat Canstruction Association, Terrace; and Prince George Construction Association, Prince George. bars eG ina aA SP MANDALORYAIONR of tablish the room.tax,t0 payers! for it| was unanimously ‘opposed by the local hos- pitality industry. Human Resources De- velopment Canada stepped forward with $40,000 an- nual grants to get the body started. But the HRDC grants ure slated to expire April 1st. , City council has trimmed its subsidy of the tourism council from $45,000 to $35,000 and plans to eventually reduce it to zero. The city used toa oversee the tourism pro- motion spending, but de- cided to spin that function off so it would be paid for and overseen by the local businesses that benefit ‘from tourism. at the Pepartment of, of he site will be held on n January 24, 2000, -at-ll: GO.am. :f. ries and Oceans, 3177 Tatlow Road, Smithers. Agents. “must register their presence with the consultant, John Van Veen, stating the name of the contractor they represent. Failure to attend and register will lead tothe non- acceplance of the tender by the Corporation. General enquiries may be directed ta the Operations Superintendent, Phil MacBride at (250) 847-7905, fax (250) 847-7904, All enquiries relating to the plans and specifications shall be directed only to the consultant, John Van Veen, Heritage Technical Services Ltd., at (250) 847-2693, fax 250). 847: 4893. ©The lowest or any tender will - mot necessarily be accepted. zi suse sen neuter oueruniy Nia Buildings Corporation The War.Amps NEVER AG To see a video iisting, visit our Web site at www.waramps.ca or order a pamphlet by calling 1-800-250-3030. Video Series The NORTHWEST SINGERS present I Musto be the Food of Love Dessert Concert Saturday, January 22, 2000 | 7 7:30 p.m. : ‘Pentecostal Fireside Room Tickets $145.00 and $12.00 at ERWIN’S JEWELLERS IN SKEENA MALL Start counting your paycheques Have you ever thought about (he number of paycheques you'll receive before you retire? If you haven't, here's a sobering thought; a 25-year old who plans to retire at age 65 has 960 paydays lelt. A45 year old has oniy 480. Assuming that you wilf receive 24 paycheques a year for the rest of your working life, how many do you have left? Now consider how much you save from each paycheque towards your retirement. For many Canadians, a paycheque barely stretches aver the two week pay period. The fact is, most of us have limited time and resources before we retire. But it's important to remember that we may have another 30 years after retirement. That chailenga is to bridge the gap hetween how much we can put aside for ratirement and haw much wa'll actually need, There are three ways you can bridge the gap: by saving mora, by working longer or by choosing growth investments. Saving more is a good idea, but il isn't always possible, especially if you're paying a mortgage or raising children. Depending on yaur job, working after 65 may not.be possible. In any event, It’s difficult to tell naw how you'll feel about working when your 65. And even if you do work longer, it’s better to work by chelce than because of financial needs. That leaves growth invastments: Putting at least same of your money In the stock market, where thera’s potential for greater ratums, retums that can out pace inflallon, Many people are intimidated by the complexities of tha stock market. They are more _comortable with another, easier way to invest Equity mutual funds, whlek offer profassional money managament and diversification, Historically, wall-managed equity funds hava outperformed other types of investments aver the long term. In addition, Ihere are a variely of mutual funds available, which give you an opportunity to choose funcs that match your risk tolerance and time horizon. In most cases people earn a finite number of Peter Arcadi Personal Financial Analyst Primerica Financial Services !n Terrace paycheques. So if saving more or working longer aren't options for you, you'll have to make your savings work harder. That means starting early with a regular investment program so your money has a longer time to grow. It also means loaking at financial vehicles like equities and equity mutual funds because they offer the best opportunity for growth over time. The earlier you invest in equity mulual funds, the more growth potential your money will have. For example, if at age 25, you invest $2,000 per year {at the beginning of stop investing, al 10 per cent return you'll have over 670,000 at age 65. But if you wait until you're 35 and invest $2,000 for the next 30 years, you'll have about $360,000, Thai's a foss of $250,000. By taking the time now to find the best long-term consistent return, you can improve your financial future significantly, Even one percentage point can make. dramatic difference over time. It, at the beginning of each year, you place $5,000 in an investment that earns eight per cent over 30 years, rather than one that earns nine per cent, you lose aut, over $131,000 There are three things you can do wilh your paycheques: spend it, lend it or invest It. Before you spend another paycheque, think about how many you have left. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments at: 635-7800 or 1-800-295-7676 arcadipis@kermode.net Your unit value and investment return will fluctuate, Important information about any mutual fund is contained in its simplified prospectus. Read your prospectus carefully before each year ) for 10 years and then investing. Age Yeors fefore Retirement Tania OFC 25 40 960 30 35 840 35 30 720 40 a 1 600 45 20. 480 50 15 360 240 55 a 10.-