City and Teck broker agreement for massive expansion of Trail boundaries
By Trail Champion
The following is a press release issued jointly by the City of Trail and Teck Cominco:
The City of Trail will be moving forward with the boundary extension referral process which may result in the city extending its boundaries into Electoral Area A; including land from the city’s existing southern boundary through to the Columbia Gardens Industrial Park and south to the US border.
The boundary extension referral process could take up to one year to complete. This process will include the City of Trail negotiating a fair agreement with the Beaver Valley Parks and Recreation Service due to the revenue loss that regional service will experience should the area form part of the City.
“The city understands this is a very important issue to Beaver Valley and every effort will be made to minimize the net financial impacts on the service and the corresponding property tax impacts to the residents in the service area and the city will therefore update the 2012 Boundary Extension Study as part of ensuring the most current and accurate figures are used as the parties work together through the negotiation,” said Mayor Dieter Bogs. “Should the province approve the process and the property owners provide their final approval, the lands could form part of the city within the next 18 months.”
Because the boundary extension area is in an unincorporated area, current rural property taxes go directly to the provincial government. If the boundary extension does eventually get approved, the extension area will fall under one jurisdiction, the City of Trail.
“If the area comes into the City of Trail’s jurisdiction, hundreds of thousands of dollars will be invested in local services or in the boundary expansion area for infrastructure to potentially attract new investment,” said Bogs. “This would result in the creation of additional local property tax revenue and new jobs for Greater Trail. Coupled with the agreement with Teck, the boundary extension is a good initiative for the entire region.”
The proposed boundary extension includes Teck’s Waneta Reload Facility and the Waneta Dam. The City of Trail and Teck have reached agreement on a framework for inclusion of Teck’s Waneta Reload Facility and the Waneta Dam within the boundary extension. With this agreed framework, Teck supports the City of Trail’s proposed boundary expansion.
“As the major landholder and facility owner in the Columbia Gardens area, Teck is pleased to have reached an agreed framework with the City of Trail,” said Greg Belland, General Manager, Teck Trail Operations. “The agreement provides tax stability for Trail Operations which is important to our long-term sustainability. The agreement also provides significant community investment commitments which will benefit Trail and the local region.”
The arrangements, which still require provincial acceptance as part of the extension process, and will only come into effect if the boundary extension proceeds, include:
· long-term tax certainty for Teck Trail Operations and revenue certainty for the city of Trail with Teck’s share of municipal tax revenue declining from 63 per cent to 55 per cent over time;
· no change in taxation or regulation of the Waneta Reload Facilities and Waneta Dam,
· one-time community investment contributions from Teck totalling $1 million dollars focussed on economic development and diversification; and
· a 20-year community investment commitment from Teck of $225,000 per year (indexed to inflation) also focussed on economic development and diversification
Local governance restructuring has been an ongoing topic of importance for Greater Trail for quite some time. In 2000, the City of Trail expanded into the Waneta Junction area which resulted in improved water service at lower costs for the area’s residents and businesses. Additionally, it also resulted in millions of dollars of economic investment and the creation of dozens of jobs with the development of Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart. It is hoped that this expansion would yield similar results and there is a template for success when it comes to a boundary extension such as this.
