No one likes to pay for something they don’t need.
For Salt Spring Islanders, the Capital Regional District (CRD) proposed Bylaw 4630 falls into that category.
Residents of the Greater Victoria area might need or want the proposed $20-million regional transportation service being proposed by the CRD. The CRD says the service will help pay for “the development of transportation policies, plans, projects and studies related to public transit, active transportation, mobility hubs, demand management and road and trail safety,” requiring an increase in the tax requisition of up to $20 million per year.
But Salt Spring property taxpayers already have and pay for their own transportation and transit service, and voted to do so back in 2007. This year Salt Spring taxpayers will fork over $526,000 for that purpose. If the CRD’s Bylaw 4630 passes, we will initially be taxed a further $339,000 per year, and up to almost twice that amount if the full $20 million in funding is tapped. It’s highly unlikely much or any of that money will be spent on Salt Spring Island.
What that means for the owner of an average-assessed residential property on Salt Spring is an extra $51 per year at first, and potentially rising to almost $100. For comparison, the owner of an average-assessed residential property on Salt Spring will pay $1,360 for all CRD services this year. The new transportation service is no small potatoes at a CRD taxation feast.
Salt Spring Island could have skipped the buffet — our elected officials asked to be left out of the areas being taxed for the service — but the CRD board rejected our requests to be excluded.
That said, the new service and its tax obligations are not a given. If at least 33,127 of the CRD’s electors sign and return “elector response forms” stating they are opposed to the proposal, the bylaw will fail and the CRD will have to return to the drawing board. The deadline to return forms to the CRD is 4:30 p.m. on May 16.
The form can be found at this link, with instructions attached. Forms can also be picked up or signed at the CRD office in the Creekside building on McPhillips Avenue, for faxing to CRD Legislative Services in Victoria. The Salt Spring Public Library has also agreed to make the forms available.
Remember, Salt Springers won’t be the only ones opposed, so it’s definitely worth a try — even if just to make the point: a better case must be made for every tax increase.