Blame new fire hall for huge tax increase
For those lucky folk living within CVRD Area D and the rest of the Cowichan Bay Improvement District we have now got official notice of tax increases which must rate as a B.C. record!
Mine, with a fairly assessed property under $800,000, comes in at a whopping 26 per cent over last year. And the main culprit is smuggled in under the “Area D” line with not one mention of the Cadillac fire hall responsible. If, like the vast majority, you did not notice that badly advertised alternative approval process sneaked through during last summer’s vacation then this is your belated wake-up call.
Maybe it’s time we got rid of these localized improvement districts and worked with our federal and provincial governments to more fairly spread the load of these mammoth infrastructure projects.
This increase is not a one-year burden but will be with these 4,500 addresses for up to 20 years as they pay off an average of $7,000 each at about $350 per year.
Is this really the fairest way to buy a new fire hall, which will likely service the entire 90,000 population of the Cowichan Valley?
Charles Ayers
Cowichan Bay