By Barb Brouwer
Contributor
Growing the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Solid Waste Closure Reserve was debated at the Jan. 17 Committee of the Whole meeting in Salmon Arm.
An ongoing solid waste management review has revealed the landfill closure reserve is far too low to meet the legislated costs of closure and post-closure monitoring of landfills.
At the December 2023 board meeting, staff were directed to look at the feasibility of using parcel taxes for the closure costs. In her report to the committee, Jodi Pierce, general manager financial services, recommended that rather than a parcel tax, directors approve ad valorem taxes (taxes on land and improvements) as a method of taxation.
Pierce’s report included several reasons for her recommendation:
Solid waste management is a regional service that includes the municipalities of Golden, Revelstoke, Sicamous and Salmon Arm where CSRD has no jurisdiction in making policy decisions. This could result in mixed methods of taxation throughout the regional district.
In terms of a parcel tax, Pierce pointed out that a property that has one dwelling and one that has many dwellings would pay the same.
“Having the shared development pay only one parcel tax adds the burden to other properties,” wrote Pierce. “Further, commercial businesses typically generate more solid waste than single-family dwellings and they would also pay exactly the same as single-family dwellings.”
As well, she noted, owners of bare lots that do not generate any solid waste would pay the same as all other properties.
Another barrier to a parcel tax Pierce identified is that some 41,220 properties that appear on the BC Assessment Roll would have to be examined to see if they are taxable or not. And to do so would require the hiring of three additional members in order to complete and submit the tax roll to meet the provincial deadline of Feb. 28. As well, at this time, no parcel tax bylaw has been established for the solid waste function, so CSRD would be unable to tax via parcel tax in 2024;
The first draft of the 2024 budget shows that in terms of an ad valorem taxation, the cost to the average residential taxpayer ranges between approximately $8 and $14 depending on the area and the average residential assessment.
“A parcel tax to generate the same tax revenue would be a minimum of $12 if all 41,220 occurrences were to be taxable and all member municipalities implemented a parcel tax,” noted Pierce. “However, we know through experience that not all parcels are taxable so the parcel tax would be higher than $12.”
Read more: Tipping fees going up at Columbia Shuswap landfills
Read more: Fees on the rise for commercial tipping in Columbia-Shuswap
And finally, Pierce pointed out that the regional district’s policy on method of taxation gives clear direction: “That the Columbia Shuswap Regional District employ the parcel tax method of taxation only when all other more conventional methods of taxation have been excluded as being inappropriate.”
While expressing his distaste for the motion, Area F Director Jay Simpson said he would support it because of the tight timeline. He complained that some issues do not appear before the board with enough time to fully explore the opportunities or options. As well, he suggested there is a significant shortfall that should have been addressed 10 years ago and asked if it could be discussed next year prior to the 11th hour.
While agreeing to the possibility of further discussion, board Chair Kevin Flynn defended staff and reminded directors that Ben Van Nostrand, acting general manager, environmental and utility services, had given a large presentation on closure costs and that many years ago, the CSRD board set the policy to have solid waste funded by tipping fees.
“We’ve never had a taxation component and in my mind that has been a mistake and not the right policy long term,” he said. “So that has changed for this budget; we have that discussion coming forward, but I do think that I would personally feel if we make a decision today, I don’t know that I want to revisit it for next year. But that would be up to the board and it would be done under a little less time pressure I would hope.”
The motion to recommend ad valorem taxation for the tax requisition dedicated to solid waste closure reserves was carried unanimously and will go to the regular board meeting.
“The committee recommended that staff use the ad valorem method of taxation so that will go to the board for approval, but given that it passed unanimously, it is unlikely to change upon adoption,” says Pierce.
