The only way to get out of the Pier B.C. convention centre mess (for which Grace McCar- thy and the provincial govern- ment, alderman George Puil, the NPA, the CPR and other developers are entirely respons- ible) is as outlined by city coun- cil’s task force. 1. The hotel and office tower must be eliminated. They weren’t included in the original plan in any case; they were sneaked in later. 2. The overrun (which even after the hotel and tower are cut and after many other cuts, is still something like $47 million) would be met by the federal and provincial governments each contributing 40 percent and the city 20 percent. 3. The city’s 20 percent share would be raised by a user or benefiters tax — that is a tax on hotel rooms in the downtown business area or an additional levy on property or the business tax in the same area. There is no way taxpayers should be compelled to make any further donations to help the big business interests that are the sole beneficiaries of the trade and convention centre. They’re already getting too much from the city — an out- right cash subsidy of $8 million, complete exemption of the cen- tre from taxes, and the city pay- ing the cost of access routes. If the business interests want a | tradeand convention centre that COPE backs task force on Pier B.C. - and being considered by city ‘responsible for council to do mol badly, let them put up some of the money themselves. It’s a case of put up or shut up. I have no doubt they’ll go for a room tax because this way they can pass on the cost to their clientele. The housing initiative eman- ating from the mayor’s office council at present, has the full support of COPE’s three alder- men — Bruce Eriksen, Bruce Yorke and Harry Rankin. It calls for: 1. A 1981 social housing goal of 2,250 non-profit rental and co-operative housing units. 2. Adoption by the GVRD of a goal of 5,000 new social hous- ing units. _ 3. Theestablishment of a $35 million housing fund to which Vancouver will contribute $5 million and the two senior gov- ernments will each contribute $15 million. As far as COPE is concerned this is a top priority item. With a zero vacancy rate, it would be ir- anything less. Affordable hous- ing is one of our greatest needs and citizens expect some action from this council now that the NPA no longer has a majority. At city council alderman George Puil, speaking for the NPA, called this plan for new housing ‘‘a crock’’ of you know what. That should indicate to all where the NPA stands. It’s now up-to the two TEAM members — alderman May Brown and Marguerite Ford to make clear where they stand. o Editor’s note: Vancouver city council voted to approve the task force recommendations and points one and two of the housing policy on Jan. 20. SA New tax appeal launched at 3 Burnaby refineries Burnaby activist Dave Fairey this week filed appeals against the 1981 tax assessments of the Shell Oil, Chevron Oil and Gulf Oil re- fineries on Burrard Inlet. The challenge to the property taxes on the major oil companies is - in response to a December decision by the Assessment Appeal Board which rejected out of hand Fairey’s appeal against the 1980 assess- ments of the Shell refinery. Fairey and lawyer Jack Wood- ward announced last week that they are taking the Assessment Ap- peal Board ruling to B.C. Supreme Court for judicial review while mounting the new challenge on the 1981 assessments for all three ma- _jor refineries in Burnaby. This time Fairey is seeking broad ‘community support to sponsor his appeal and 100 North Burnaby res- idents turned out Jan. 14 toa public meeting to hear him report on the © 1980 appeal and outline plans for the new appeal. Among those attending the meeting at the Capital Hill Com- munity Hall were Burnaby school trustees Elsie Dean and Barry Jones and NDP MLA for Burnaby * North Eileen Dailly. “This affects your pocket book, your standard of living and your real wages,”’ Fairey told the meet- ing. ‘‘I can’t continue to do it alone. It is time others in the com- munity joined the fight.”’ Lawyer Jack Woodward, a former NDP federal candidate for North Vancouver Seymour, which ‘includes North Burnaby, referred to Fairey as a “‘local hero”’ and ap- ~pealed for active community sup- port for the 1981 appeals. Woodward said the practices of the Assessment Appeal Board in denying public access to assessor’s data in.an appeal case and in reject- ing all evidence except that based on professional appraisal tech- Lower Mainland school tax unfair, GVRD tells Socreds The first volley has been fired at the Socred government for the massive increase in school taxes faced by homeowners in the Greater Vancouver region. Representatives from the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) presented municipal affairs minister Bill Vander Zalm with a brief last Thursday, blasting the govern- ment’s ‘‘obsolete’’ education financing formula for shifting ‘‘an increasingly unfair share of the schools tax on metropolitan area taxpayers, compared to the rest of B.C. “The average homeowner in Greater Vancouver will pay nearly twice as much in school taxes as will the owners of similar properties in the rest of the province, it is, estimated this year,’’ the brief stated. “*The disparity has come about as a result of the dramatic increase in residential property values in the lower mainland over the past year compared to relatively modest in- creases elsewliere in the province.”’ The brief went on to explain that while the uniform mill rate levied against all assessed property in the property to raise money for educa- tion costs sounded ‘‘equitable’’ on the surface, ‘‘the differences in the rate of escalation of residential lot values across the province have destroyed the formula’s objective of fairness.’’ One of the charts illustrating this point showed that an average home in Greater Vancouver that cost - $67,917 in 1980, now costs $105,354, up 55.1 percent. The cost of a comparative home in outlying areas throughout the province had risen 23 percent, from an average $43,193 in 1980 to $53,164 today. Although it was a pretty hefty increase, it was not as sharp as in Greater Vancouver where property speculation by developers and real estate sharks have reached dizzying proportions. In 1980, all properties in the pro- vince were assessed at 14.5 percent of their actual value, and when the 41.25 mill rate was applied to those figures, metro and rural homeowners ended up being taxed an average $405 and $258 for education costs respectively. With the provincial homeowner grant of $380 ($620 for seniors), the homeowner in Kamloops, or Prince George, or Nanaimo, hada better chance to: pay off their school taxes and a chunk of their municipal taxes as well, while the GVRD homeowner was out of pocket. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JAN. 23, 1981—Page 2 — ‘miniscule Even though properties have been assessed at 11 percent this year, and the mill rate dropped a .05 to 41.2, GVRD homeowners are facing an 18 per- cent hike in school taxes, which translates into an average $72 more than last year. Also slammed in the GVRD’s brief, was the dramatic decrease in the total provincial contribution to school costs while the total net education cost continues to soar up 139-percent since 1973. The provincial government’s contribution to the Greater Van- couver school district’s budgets is estimated at 27.3 percent, a far cry from its 45.3 percent contribution in 1973. The remainder of the pro- vince has fared a little better, with the 1981 provincial contribution estimated at 44.8 percent, though its still down from the 50.7 percent in 1973 Also pointed out was that in- dustry and businesses were not paying their fair share of taxes because they were not being ac- curately assessed. Without giving much in the way of details, non- residential assessments should be adjusted upwards substantially in outlying rural areas and downshifted in the GVRD, the brief said DAVE FAIREY ... taking on Shell, Chevron and Gulf. niques are unfair and likely illegal. Those decisions of the Assessment Appeal Board will be taken for ju- dicial review in the Supreme Court which could overturn the board’s decision and reopen the case on the 1980 assessments of Shell. - About three-quarters of those at the meeting signed three petitions supporting Fairey’s actions and several residents volunteered to work on a committee. Chevron, Shell and Gulf are the largest properties in Burnaby, said Fairey. ‘‘But were these properties occupied by housing they would pay several times more than they do in property taxes. How can this land be assessed so low in relation to residential land?” He cited the case of residential lots immediately adjacent to the Chevron refinery which share the same industrial zoning, but are valued six and seven times higher than the refinery land by the B.C. Assessment Authority. The inflationary spiral in the Lower Mainland housing market is aggravating the inequalities, he ar- gued, with the actual value assess- ments of residential properties in Burnaby increasing by 66 percent - as opposed to a mere 10 percent in- crease for industrial properties. The provincial government’s as- sessment base formula partially narrows the gap, but not complete- ly, he said. ‘Continued inflation in residential assessments can only mean a greater and greater share of the tax burden being placed on homes.”” In contrast to the huge i increases in land assessments on residential properties, the refineries already low assessments increased at about half the rate from 1980 to 1981. _ The assessments on Shell’s 220 acres went up by 13.9 percent and its building and machinery assess- ments increased by 22.2 percent, - for a total increase of 20 percent. At the Chevron refinery, the 135-acre parcel of land inflated by only 7.9 percent, while the build- ings and machinery inflated by 36 percent, for a total increase of 32 percent. These imbalances between in- dustrial and residential land will mean that homeowners could face tax increases of 25 percent in 1981 if Burnaby does not change its mill © rate, he predicted. The first of three petitions re- leased at the meeting called for sup- port of the 1981 appeal on the oil refineries’ property taxes and urged Burnaby municipal council and ~ school board to also actively sup- port the appeals. - A second petition called on the Burnaby municipal council to in- _ Struct its property and land de- . x { partment to make independent ap- praisals of large industrial and commercial properties and toitself | launch appeals when it appears as- sessments are too low. ~ The final petition was aimed at — the provincial government and de- manded changes in assessment procedures to require that indust- rial and commercial land, at a min- imum, have their values increased _ onthe assessment roles by the aver- age increase in residential land. The effect of that would be to stop the continuing shift of actual values — onto homes on the assessment rolls. Monday, Fairey received a mix- ed response from Burnaby muni- cipal council as he delivered the ’ first batch of petitions andinform- - ed council of the appeal on the 1981 assessments. Whereas he as an individual could not summons the actual data on which the Assessment Author- ity valued the oil company prop- erties, the municipality could de- mand to see the assessor’s data, he ’ pointed out. The municipality should de- mand to know why the land values of the three refineries, all with simi- lar land in the same zoning on Bur- rard Inlet, are widely at variance with each other, he said. Chevron’s land is valued at $90,000 per acre on the 1981 assessment rolls while Shell’s land is valued at $65,000 per acre and Gulf’s at $35,000 per acre. According to. the. Assessment Authority smaller parcels of land have higher values. But in the case of the refineries, the smallest par- cel, owned by Gulf, also has the lowest value. Fairey’s submission to council provoked a hostile response from mayor Dave Mercier, right wing al- derman Vic Stusiak and former Burnaby Citizens Association al- _. derman Gerry Ast. However BCA aldermen Doug Drummond and Fred Randall were supportive and Burnaby Voters Association alder- man Allan Emmott moved to refer Fairey’s material to the municipal treasurer for analysis and a report back to council. North Van tax fight The newly formed Committee for Fair Assessments in North Van- couver filed notice of appeal. against three major industrial pro- perties in North Vancouver District. The appeal was launched by committee spokesperson Betty Griffin Jan. 20, the last day under the Assessment Act allowed for ap- peals on the 1981 assessments. The committee has charged that the assessments of two adjacent properties owned by Hooker Chemicals, and the industrial pro- — perties of Mohawk Lubricants and Erco Industries are all underassess- ed. The Committee for Fair. Assessments formed last week after a presentation to North Vancouver School Board by Griffin alerting the board to the prospect ofasharp _ rise in school taxes because of the vastly increased assessments for residences in North Van.