A year to celebrate
Terrace turns 75,
ushering in a year of
community .
events\COMMUNITY B1

Road rap

maintenance

Local officials. meet. to. :
discuss the state of road

standards \NEWS A10

Look back .
Local accomplishments
| and world domination:
mark the last half of.
2002\SPORTS BS

$1.00 pus 7¢ GST
(51.10 plus 8¢ GST -
outside of the Terrace area)

We terraces

fand

Property values dive for fifth year

By JEFF NAGEL

MOST PROPERTY assessments here are down
for the fifth straight year.

The average home assessment fell around five
per cent from the previous year to $106,516.

The total assessed property values for 2002 in
Terrace dropped to $715.2 million, according to
the B.C, Assessment Authority.

That's down from nearly $740-million the pre-

vious year and the latest in a steady decline
since the city’s assessment roll peaked at $831
million in 1998.

The numbers show the deterioration of the
northwest economy and the values of homes and
businesses.

an amount necessary to deliver the same amount
of tax as the previous year.

The average residential assessment fell by
about five per cent from the previous year.

City treasurer Judy Degerness says that means
home owners whose assessments dropped five
per cent or more can expect to pay the same or
less in property tax as last year if council passes
a hold-the-line budget and sticks to. its ‘usual me-
thod of setting rates.

Anyone whose assessment has held steady or
increased will likely pay more.

Assessments can vary greatly from home to
home and neighbourhood to neighbourhood due
to a variety of factors, deputy assessor Erich
Streckenbach says.

or Thornheights - areas that tended to better hold

‘their value. Lakelse Lake waterfront properties

were almost unchanged.

A typical single family home in the horseshoe
valued at $107,800 in 2001 sold for $101,000 in
the summer of 2002, Streckenbach noted. In con-
trast a Thornheights house worth $122,500 in
2001 sold for $120,000 a year later.

Streckenbach said the general trend continued
down. “The unsettled local economy has resulted
in lower market demand,” he said.

The deadline to request an independent re-
view of an assessment is Jan. 31.

Homeowners can.compare their assessment to
similar nearby homes at the assessment authority
office or on the authority web site at www.bcas-

$135,000.00
$120,000.00
$125,000.00

$115,000.00
$110,000.00
$105,000.00

|Average residential assessment j

$140,000.00...

$120,000.00 -

$100,000.00 - | aa

1997-2003

But they don't mean the city will be deprived

of property taxes at budget time.

City council usually increases the tax rate by

He said values dropped more this ° year in the
horseshoe, than on the southside, the bench area,

sessment.be.ca.:
All the- assessments are based on thé (assess-

~~

THREE DOZEN brave souls went for
a frigid New Year's Day splash in
Lakelse Lake in the annual Ker-
mode Bear Swim. Wacky costumes
were the flavour of the day. Most
participants dashed in and out of
But Ben .
Auckland (top right) — sporting a wild
pink wig and a satin evening gown
— took a leisurely and lanquorous
stroll back out of the lake and up
the Icy runway. A couple hundred
spectators braved fight rain to cheer
on the swimmers. There was no ice
to chop out this year, but water res-
cue team members cleared a tayer
of slush from the swim zone. The
charity event raised $5,400 for. the
Terrace Kinsmen Club, which will
support local projects. Mary Ann
Speirs, who was dressed as Mrs.
Claus, took in the most pledges,
The 12th annual

the near-freezing water.

raising $781.

event was held at the Kinsmen Kin

Kamp. JEFF NAGEL PHOTOS

dents.

Vacancy rate highest in B.C. |

TERRACE and Kitimat have the
highest vacancy rates anywhere in
B.C., new stats show.

Terrace’s vacancy rate is now
40.5 per cent - up from 23.6 per

cent in the new survey by the Ca- .

nada Mortgage and Housing Cor.
poration.

Prince Rupert at 27.5 per cent
were the next highest in the rental
market survey.

Vacancy rates were less than
three per cent in Vancouver, Ab-
botsford, Victoria,’ Kelowna, Pen-

:. ticton, and Squamish.

And 41 per cent of Kitimat

rental homes ate vacant, also a
major increase from 29.9 per cent
the previous year.

Powell River at 28.3 per cent and:

The vacancy rates here ‘signal
the exodus of nprthwest residents
to look for work elsewhere, says

Terrace realtor: and chamber of
commerce president Shella Love..
Williams Lake at 35 per: rr

- “It’s a brutal ‘rental. markt for

landlords, : ‘Love: sald.”

Peaple who have left but are
having difficulty selling their
homes are trying to rent them out
instead, says Northern Savings
Credit Union CEO Mike Tarr. And
that’s exacerbated ; by, the. fact.
there are fewer people left looking
to rent.

“If you'r a landlord right now
it’s hard to find good tenants,”
Tart said. “You pretty much have

“to give the place away to keep it

warm.”

enough data to break down the re-
sults by type of rental.

Nor was there enough info to
calculate average rents for most

types of apartments, For three- -
‘bedroom unit. rentals, however,
CMHC said the average price in.

Me

Terrace was $612 per month.
Cheapest rents were reported in
Port Alberni, while tenants in

Vancouver paid an average ~
$1,125 for a three-bedroom. Equi-
valent, tenants In Viétorla ‘paid
“The survey found there wasn’t .

$865 and i in Kelowna pald $737.

ment authority’s estimate of property values on
July 1, 2002,

Extra cash
discovered
for schools

By JENNIFER LANG
THE PROVINCIAL government reached into its pockets
to find an extra $22 million to help school districts cope
with. declining enrolment.

The education ministry announced ‘last month’ all 60
school districts in the province will receive an extra. $35
per student. . re

The news came “as a ‘welcome surprise. ‘to Coast
Mountains School District officials. |

The announcement works out ta $229,644 for this
school district, secretary-treasurer Marcel ‘Georges said.

Each school district received $5,308 per student as
base funding.

The education ministry held back about $20 million
until ESL, First Nation and special needs. enrolment
numbers for the current year were known, Georges said,

“They did that in case they had to absorb extra
costs,” he said. .

The additional money announced last week will come
in the form of one-time grants designed to help compen-
sate for lost revenue from declining enrolment.

“They needed to do something about that,” he. said,
adding the extra money is welcome news,

But it won’t go a long way to solve an anticipated $5
million deficit for the coming school year brought on by
declining enrolment, a lack of funding for years two and
three of a teachers’ wage increase, higher benefit costs
combined with an education funding freeze.

“A freeze is'a cut,” Georges said, adding the district
has $267,000 less operating money this year, a figure
that would be much higher without includes a one-time
adjustment grant of $490,000, ,

The education ministry has also announced school
districts experiencing an enrolment decline greater than
one per cent of the school population will share $14 mil-
lion in additional money as a one-time grant.

That works out to $18 per
lost student, Georges said.

That means School District
82 will receive an additional
$4,784 for the loss of 265 stu-

“Our loss in enrolment is
more like 350,” George said,
adding the district is only com-
pensated for the lost students
over and above that one per
cent.

This is the fourth year in a
row school enrolment has drop-
ped province-wide. The educa-
tion ministry announced 49 out
of 60 school districts in B.C.
experienced a decline in the number of students,

It’s a trend that shows no signs of abating in the Coast
Mountains School District, where officials are bracing
for another drop of 350 students next year, which would
represent a loss of about $1.5 million in operating
money.

The education ministry says there are 7,100 fewer
students in B.C. schools this year, bringing the total
number of full time equivalent students to 576, 172 from
kindergarten to Grade 12,

The ministry says shifting demographics are a major
factor in the decline.

The number of school-aged children entering the.
schaol system is shrinking.

Far example, just 37,607 children. entered kindergar-
ten this year, compared to 52,579 students in Grade 12
last year ~ a difference of nearly 15,000 students.

Enrolment went up in just 11 school districts. Surrey,

Marcel Georges

“where enrotment jumped. by 675 students this year, re-
_-ported the largest surge in new students.

. The Prince. George School District lost. 790 students
this year — the largest student population decline in B.C,