Photo Gallery - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! - Debbie

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RDNO Press releases - Happy New Year!

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Selected Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them

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Selected Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them

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Coldstream Council Meeting - December 15, 2014

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Selected Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them

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Financial details revealed for railway corridor purchase

    by  Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star
    posted Dec 9, 2014 at 12:00 PM

There are more details about what it will cost taxpayers to purchase a railway corridor.

Information released Tuesday shows that of the $22 million price tag for the CN line from Kelowna to Coldstream, the Regional District of North Okanagan would be responsible for $1.9 million.

“The expectation is there will be no impact on taxpayers,” said David Sewell, RDNO chief administrative officer.

The funds will come out of a reserve created in 2005 when Greater Vernon residents agreed to borrow $7.5 million for parkland acquisition. About $7 million remains in the account.

“We are already paying interest so there is no incremental impact on taxes,” said Sewell of the CN land deal.

RDNO’s $1.9 million is based on the property value of the corridor within the regional district.

The District of Lake Country’s share is $5.1 million. To minimize the current tax impact to residents, the municipality may seek public approval to borrow up to 50 per cent of the amount.

“That is a possibility but council has to discuss that further,” said Mayor James Baker, adding that the issue will be considered by council Tuesday and the district may seek to borrow the entire cost.

Lake Country has also entered into an agreement in which the City of Kelowna would acquire a 50 per cent interest in the land within Lake Country on a temporary basis. This would reduce the immediate cost to Lake Country it purchases the share back from Kelowna.

“It makes it a little easier for our tax burden initially,” said Baker.

Kelowna staff supports the deal with lake Country.

“The arrangement alleviates the debt load for the District of Lake Country’s residents, protects the opportunity of all the jurisdictions to finalize the deal with CN and preserves the corridor as a continuous route physically connecting the communities of the central and north Okanagan with no current tax impact for Kelowna residents,” said Doug Gilchrist, divisional director community planning and real estate for the City of Kelowna.

Beyond its assistance to Lake Country, Kelowna estimates its share of the purchase price at $7.6 million. It would be funded from reserves and interim financing with no additional tax increase needed.

All of the participating jurisdictions are also looking at ways to raise the remaining $7.3 million of the agreement purchase amount through grants and partnerships before the due diligence process for purchase ends.

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Only "un" Kim Jong-un? - Is this real or surreal?

Like all details of the unusual goings on in North Korea, recent reports involving its leader Kim Jong Un should be taken semi-seriously. However, as several South Korean outlets have relayed, the North Korean dictator has apparently banned his subjects from having his name.

"The order was contained in a directive from 2011 that has only now been made public," the BBC noted. What does the directive entail? According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, it means that not only are parents forbidden from naming their babies Kim Jong Un, but that people who already have the name are required to change their names and alter their birth certificates. From an excerpt of the document:

"All party organs and public security authorities should make a list of residents named Kim Jong-un ... and train them to voluntarily change their names." Read more?

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Water woes - and a response - letter to the Morning Star

 Dec 5, 2014 at 1:00 AM

I recently received my third quarter utility bill and the water cost portion of this bill is enormous.

.

Last year when I received the same third quarter bill (which I also thought was enormous), I decided to do something about it and adjusted my water consumption, bringing my water usage down by almost 20 per cent. Guess what?

My bill this year was almost the same as last year.

A review of what has happened here has brought me some interesting results. On March 19, the Regional District of North Okanagan board approved a new tiered fee structure, including the infrastructure base fee, increasing the cost to domestic (residential users) by almost 20 per cent. Yes, almost 20 per cent.

This in the face of inflationary guidelines of two per cent. I guess the cost of water is not included in the calculations for inflation.

Don Graham

Vernon

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The above letter points out the unusual way Greater Vernon Water Utility charges for water. It charges a consumption fee on a tiered basis and adds to it a fixed tax (called "base fee") of $99.80 per quarter. Up to a consumption of 66 cubic meters per quarter this tax is greater than the consumption cost. At 40 cubic meter consumption the tax is more than twice as much as the consumption fee. This is what we call a "user pay system". It shows that at lower consumption levels there is no incentive to conserve water because the consumption cost is negligible as compared to the fixed fee.

The reason given for this huge base fee is that it must cover "fixed costs". However, I was never given the actual value of fixed costs. In an annual budget there are two ledgers: an expenditure ledger and a revenue ledger. The expenditures must be equal the revenues or else we have a deficit or a surplus. Thus, I believe that the fixed costs are the costs identified in the expenditure side of the budget. If we wanted to cover all the fixed costs by base fees then the base fees should cover the entire budget. In our budget of $17 million the annual base fees would then amount to about $710 per year or $178 per quarter. All customers should then pay the same regardless of consumption (it used to be that way until quite recently - extremely unfair but there were no meters). 

There are major problems with this system aside from being unfair to low consumers: the utility would lose control of consumption. As indicated above the current system is already showing less incentives to conserve water at lower consumption rates, a universal flat rate would be unmanageable. Unfortunately, the current trend of ever increasing base fees is heading in the wrong direction.

In my opinion a conventional user pay system based on unit cost of treatment and delivery of domestic water with a small base fee (that would also be based on unit cost of water) would be the most effective and fairest way of charging for domestic water.

Just for the record, the "base fee" of $399.20 currently charged by GVWU would be the annual General Tax for a property worth $177,000 in Coldstream.

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Enjoy!!!

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Selected Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them

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Selected Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them

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Photo Gallery - Inauguration night - Debbie.

 

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Deal Reached with CN!

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Coldstream Council Inaugural Meeting - December 1, 2014

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Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them.

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Last Meeting of Current Council

 

This is the last meeting of the current Council and the last meeting for Councillor Besso. Come and thank Councillor Besso or her hard work and wish her well with her future plans.

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