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. Second-class mail registration No. 6896. All material appearing in the Terrace Review is protected under Canadian copyright Registra- tlon No. 362775 and cannot legaily be repro- duced for any reason without permission of the Estabiished May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. ; ublisher. Publisher: omiasions. Advertising is accepted Mark Twyford on the condition that In the event of ~ Editor: FeTTo capied by tne erroneous {lem wil _ Mace aly ramcrereceinyeetattae : Staff Reporter: Advertisers must 3 raeponoibitity tor er- oes Ee cere | AMR Teytord saan be petane ih ; is ~ discriminates againat a person due to ope. race, Typesetting: magia calor. 9ox, nationality, ancestry or place - frie Clason . my Production Manager: , 4535 Greig Avenue, rn own Hal Terrace, BS: roduction: ~ Alvin Stewart. Phone: 635-7840 ‘Gurbax Gin, Linda Mercer Fax: 635-7280 ; ; ce: ee - Carrle Olson "One yeor subscriptions: Accounting: our cand a0 hae of Canada $50. . Mar] Twytord Seniors in Terrace and District $12.00 oe Harminder Dosanjh . Seniors out of Terrace and District $16.00 | your telephone amo ~4ay, 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;