Lae a a a ET i a ia ai alii

Let us make this

‘Municipal Association, stating that an emergency meeting of the’ 7

perfectly muddy...

There was a sudden burst of apparent interest in the news
room here last week regarding local property taxes. Maybe it was
a delayed reaction to the dispatch of tax notices that took place a
few weeks ago and the passage of the payment deadline July. 4.

A message by Fax came in Thursday from the North Central

NCMA executive had been called to address the escalating prop-
erty tax situation. Under close examination and a couple of inter-
views later it turned out that the NCMA wasn’t concerning itself -
with the size of taxes so much as the fact that municipalities are ~
struck with the nasty job of collecting them on behalf of school
boards and various other arms of government. The collectors
typically get blamed’ when they have to collect more than they did
the previous year, and the NCMA, ort behalf of municipal coun-
cils, is feeling very misunderstood.
On the following day a joint press release from the Ministry of
Municipal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance and Corporate
Relations (otherwise know as the Tax Man)-stated that public |
hearings will be held throughout B.C. during August and |
September on the topic of property tax reform, The round of

HELA Se.

hearings will be preceded by a government-issue discussion paper - :
to keep everyone on the subject.

We were unable to confirm whether the two items were related,
but it’s about time somebody cleared up the confusion surround-
ing what taxes go to whom and how they are spent. A good place
to start would be the annual tax notice, which is obviously
designed for communicating with accounting systems, not tax-
payers. .

On the Terrace municipal property tax levy form, one finds
school taxes, which seems straightforward but isn’t. The school

~ district budget bylaw, which sets the tax rates, covers the period

from September to the following September, but the tax collec-
tions ate calculated for the calendar year; 40 percent this year, 60
percent next year. Next comes general taxes, the city’s operating
expenses and capital projects; then debt (for what?, doesn't say),
regional district (the nefarious MK Bay Marina and Kitsumkalum
Ski Hill debt, among other things that aren’t specified either),
hospital (minor capital expenses and equipment replacement,
unexplained), the mysterious B.C. Assessment Authority, the
agency that determines what your property’s worth for tax pur-
poses and then taxes you to pay for their operations, which seems
vaguely unfair; and Municipal Finance Authority and B.C. Tran-
sit. 7
Is it any wonder an irate reader wrote us two weeks ago, ap-
palled at a tax notice showing an assessment for dog control that
was twice the amount levied for health care? If the forms can’t
‘be changed, someone in city hall and regional district should at -
least compose an explanatory notice to mail out with the damned

- things.

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by John Pifer

VICTORIA — It may be true
to say that on the face of it,
the issue of electoral boun-
daries is hardly a very ‘“sexy”’
matter for the average voter.

But the behind-the-scenes
political implications which one
can read into last week’s ap-
parent acceptance of the Fisher
Royal Commission report are |
simply fascinating.

To recap briefly: I have
made recent reference in this
corner to the apparent stalling
by the government to imple-
ment Fisher’s findings, which
called for 75 MLA’s instead of
69, and the end of the 17 dual-
seat ridings, 11 of which are
held by 22 government MLA’s.

The honorable judge com-
pleted his 21-month review in
December, but it wasn’t made
public for more than three
months. Then, it was shunted
off to an all-party committee
of the Legislature, which was

ordered to deliver a unanimous
decision.

On June 15, a motion to ap-
prove the report, made by the
NDP MLA’s on the committee,
was tabled amid some ran-
corous squabbling, and it ap-
peared the whole idea and $1.5
million in taxpayers’ money
was down the tube.

Lo and behold, three weeks
later, the Fisher was brought
forward, and passed unani-
mously by that committee.

What prompted the change
of heart? Well, methinks it is
part of the greatest indoor
sport in B.C. politics today —

damage control. Don’t forget

‘that the end of dual ridings was

The view from Victoria

more damaging to their party
than to the Opposition.

I remain convinced that the
initial stalling and dilly-dallying.
with the Fisher Report was
designed to have it languish in
obscurity at least until one
more election was held under
the old, unfair, gerrymandered,
unconstitutional boundaries.

And before you get on my ~
case for such a description, I
must point out that it was the
B.C. Supreme Court which rul-
ed on the unfairness and il-
legality of those old boun-
daries. .

Anyway, despite the wish to
bury Fisher, not to praise it,
it’s now on stream, and unless
there’s an exceptional surprise
this fall, it will be law before
the next general election.

The only thing which makes
sense for the change of heart,
is to show that Vander Zalm
keeps his promises, and to
‘‘hold our nose and plunge ©
in’’, as one Cabinet BVZ
loyalist put it, regardless of any
imagined or actual detriment to
the Socreds.

As well, this way, the .
premier’s key political advisor,

' principal secretary Jerry

Lampert, can get on with his’
main job — helping the party
to prepare for the next election.
_ And it also will stop the NDP
from trotting out accusations
of “‘cobkiiig the books” and
dirty politics when that election
does get here.
Wheels within wheels...

In April, the premier prom-
ised on the twice-monthly -

a promise made by Premier Bill Rogers Cable TV show, Voice

Vander Zalm during the last
election campaign, in one of
his indomitable offhand -

of the Province, that he would .
be making Cabinet changes “‘at

or near the end of the

remarks during a TV interview. session.” —

Many of the Social Credit

MLA’s, in and out of Cabinet,

were opposed to changing the
existing boundaries, to adding

the twin-seat ridings. They
viewed Fisher’s proposals as -

more seats, or to getting rid of

On Thursday, he told me
that the promises he made
then, and in the Throne
Speech, to create a ministry of
women’s affairs, and to make
environment a full-fledged

> ministry, would be fulfil.

but not until after the -
Legislature adjourns. ~

“That looks like being at the

end of July (probably the - ©

27th); but Vander Zalm would
_ not say (nor is he under any -

obligation to say) whether the
changes would be minor or ma-
jor. . i
As stated here before, the.
decisions he does take — with —
regard to rewarding stellar
‘backbenchers or dumping less-
than-competent ministers —-
will be a clear signal of what he

has learned in the last year,

since the resignations of then —
Attorney General Brian Smith

and Social Credit’s grande oye

dame Grace.McCarthy, and the
caucus revolt linked to his ac-
tions and those of the egregious
but not forgotten David Poole.

_ Meanwhile, the many
aspirants to the perceived

power of being in Cabinet wait
with bated breath... and con-
tinue to behave themselves, just
in case...

Parting Thought: Forest .

Minister Dave Parker, Skeena’s .

own, is suffering from one of
the most severe cases of foot-

in-mouth disease, ina govern- — -

‘ment famed for the affliction.

On Friday, during an NDP

member’s statement'to the

House about AIDS, the current

-plague of our planet, Parker.
‘spat out what he must have —
thought was a witty line. He
said the NDP should change its
‘theme song'to “Sodomy —
Forever”’. .
It’s a line which might...
might... draw a laugh from a

nightclub full of rednecks who

still call homosexuals
‘queers’; but from a minister
of the government, it was
thoughtless, cruel and pathetic.
Little wonder that on Monday,
B.C.’s leading open-line radio
‘host, Rafe Mair of CKNW
Radio, called Parker a ‘‘foul- .
mouthed ignoramus, 2 block- —
head,’’ and most colorful of all
‘Hike a warthog in heat.”

Many think Mair was tod kind;