Council Matters: Rossland City Council Meetings, April 7, 2025
By Sara Golling
UPDATED: Concerned about spending at City Hall? Study the draft 2025-2029 Financial Plan – it contains a lot of information; there will be a Public Consultation about it on a date and time yet to be announced. Also why the RDKB requisition is going up by 24%; much of that is for sewage treatment upgrades, required by law. Plus, the importance of libraries in general, and ours in particular.
PRESENT:
Council: Mayor Andy Morel and Councillors Craig Humpherys, Maya Provençal, Lisa Kwiatkowski and Jeff Weaver. Absent: Stewart Spooner and Eliza Boyce.
Staff: Chief Administrative Office Bryan Teasdale, Chief Financial Officer Mike Kennedy, Deputy Corporate Officer Cynthia Añonuevo, Executive Assistant Rachel Newton, City Planner Stacey Lightbourne, Manager of Recreation & Events Kristi Calder, Manager of Operations and Infrastructure Scott Lamont, and Deputy Operations Manager Josh Solman.
PUBLIC HEARING:
This Public Hearing is to hear resident’s responses to the proposed rezoning of a portion of 1999 Second Avenue, from C-1 Commercial Downtown Core to R1-I Residential Infill.
The City had received no written submissions, and no one spoke, so Major Morel adjourned the Public Hearing.
PUBLIC INPUT PERIOD:
Ralph Behrens stated that he lives on 5 acres of unsubdividable land, and pays about $10,000 annually in property taxes; he said he is curious to know to what extent “we are paying for what is happening at RED” – whether RED is contributing to the rest of the town, or the rest of the town is subsidizing development at RED.
Normally, Council does not respond to questions during Public Input Period, but Morel explained that the City is taking questions and is putting together an information package to communicate to the public before the public consultation.
Imran Khan commented that he has talked to a lot of people, and feels that Rossland’s taxes are already a barrier to moving to Rossland. He said these are precarious times, and 10% is a large increase.
Dan Hachey noted that a 10% per year increase compounded adds up to 61% over the five years, and that’s a large amount.
DELEGATION:
Rossland Public Library Association Board Chair Doug Orr and Executive Director Stacey Boden provided an entertaining and engaging review of Rossland Library’s many services and high level of popularity. To check the digital resources, click this link: https://rossland.bc.libraries.coop/complete-list/
… and continue to explore the website for more information. The “Library of Things” has 18 items for people to borrow.
Boden and Orr pointed out the many ways the library helps the City achieve its goals of affordability (free membership, free access to books, all those free online courses and other resources) and community and equity (the library is “the great equalizer”, offers safe spaces) and the natural environment (can combat misinformation by way of Kermode Education) and much more.
They pointed out that the library is funded by the provincial and municipal governments and that the funding from the Province has not changed in 16 years.
REFERRAL FROM PRIOR MEETING — REQUEST FOR COUNCIL DECISION:
Council affirmed the amended recommendations of the Committee-of-the-Whole meeting held on March 11, 2025, to award the ReDi Grant amounts to recipients as listed on pages 44 and 45 of the Council package: https://rossland.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/42570/?preview=45627&splitscreen=true
POLICY REVIEW:
Recreation Facilities User Allocation: The wording had been amended for greater clarity; a motion to approve the amended policy CARRIED unanimously.
BYLAW:
Council discussed the DRAFT 2025 – 2029 Financial Plan Bylaw, and a motion to give it first reading CARRIED, as did a motion for second reading.
Note: there will be a Public Consultation at Rossland City Hall at 4:30 pm on
a date to be announced shortly.
Discussion: Weaver opened discussion, by wondering whether he, before he became a Councillor, was as uninformed about the City’s finances, the cost of maintaining services, the huge problem of the accumulated infrastructure deficit and the cost of even beginning to address it, as many residents seem to be. He expressed frustration at the perception by many members of the public that the proposed 10% property tax increase is “arbitrary” and “comes out of the blue” – given that the City has been trying to make residents aware of the issues facing it for years, and the amount of study, expertise and effort that has gone into preparing the financial plan.
“Rossland is not an outlier,” Weaver asserted, pointing out that property taxes are set to rise by 11% in Merritt this year, by 9.6% in Squamish, and by 8.25% in Whistler. He said he thinks this increase has to be 10%, and even then, it doesn’t come close to dealing with the problems Rossland faces. He noted that there is a “massive disconnect” between expectations and what we can afford.
Humpherys said that he doesn’t really want to pay so much in property taxes either, but he sees no way around it.
Teasdale commented that Rossland does very well on receiving grants – “We’re punching above our weight class.” He spoke of the importance of having enough funds in reserves to be able to take advantage of grant opportunities, and mentioned the grants totaling $600,000 that the City has just received for upgrades to the Centennial Trail.
Provençal said she thinks she offers a unique perspective among Council members, as she is only 26 years old and has a baby daughter. She said her choice is to pay for this now, rather than putting if off for more years when it will be much more expensive to address decaying infrastructure, and will cost more for emergency repairs in the meantime.
Kwiatkowski acknowledged the comments about communication in the petition started by some residents, and said the City has limited staff to do a huge amount of work. She also pointed out that although the plan is for five years, the decisions on taxation are made every year, so “we’ll be back talking about this next year.”
Morel stated that the infrastructure deficit is not just a Rossland problem, it’s national problem. He said, “We deal with emergencies on a regular basis with broken pipes.” He said he is proud of Council members and staff for taking on these issues, and that these are well-researched decisions. He confirmed that RED and Redstone do contribute.
Morel noted that Warfield is considering other options than remaining a stand-alone municipality, because of the high costs of operating with its 97% residential tax base.
Morel also stated that many of the projects challenged in the residents’ petition are largely grant-funded, though the City does pay a portion. He confirmed that the next four years’ tax rates will be up for discussion and decision every year.
What the material on the Plan in the agenda package says: much more than I can present here — for details, go to the actual Council package, from page 50 to page 186 – accessible via the link provided above; just scroll down. Here, I show only a very tiny sampling of the information and graphics in the materials.
The materials outline how much money the City plans to spend, where the money will come from, what it plans to spend it on, and why.
There is a chart showing the actual cost per average Rossland household of the proposed increase in the City’s property taxes and some of the other charges shown on our tax bills, for the next year: the City’s tax increase alone adds up to $257 for the year, or $21.35 per month, or 70 cents per day. Adding the increases to parcel tax and utilities rates, and the RDKB requisition increase, the total for the next year comes to $581.27, or $48.40 per month, or $1.59 per day.
The materials contain a “mythbusting” section, with information such as this:
Claim: “If We Had Development Cost Charges (DCCs) in Place, We Wouldn’t Have to Raise Taxes!”
Response: While the reinstatement of DCCs could have provided additional funding, the core challenge remains the chronic underinvestment in infrastructure over the past 50+ years. Furthermore, many of the upgrades we are now addressing—such as retaining walls, a significant portion of the Utilities Master Plan (UMP) projects, and several initiatives undertaken over the past decade—would not have been eligible for DCC funding.
On the topic of DCCs, here’s a relevant quote from the materials: “A $100K Alternative Funding Review (fully grant-funded) will explore Development Cost Charges (DCCs) and other revenue options.” [Emphasis added.]
And this: “Why is the City giving big tax breaks to businesses?! I heard the Josie Hotel doesn’t pay taxes!”
The materials explain that the Revitalization Tax Exemption granted to the Josie Hotel during construction expired, and since it expired the Josie Hotel “has paid over $360K in municipal taxes and continues to be the most taxed folio in Rossland ($93K+ in 2024). They will pay over $100K in taxes in 2025.”
The legal requirements: The Council materials explain that, “Local governments are not permitted to budget for a deficit (when planned expenditures and transfers are higher than planned revenues and transfers).
“A Financial Plan must be adopted before the annual tax rate bylaw can be adopted. In other words, a municipality can’t set tax rates until it has developed and approved a plan on how said taxes would be spent.
“Before a Financial Plan can be adopted, local governments are required to undergo public consultation. While this definition can be interpreted widely, in the case of the City of Rossland, it has traditionally meant providing citizens with an advanced copy of the budget and the opportunity to review, comment and pose questions about the plan through a range of channels; including directly to staff via phone, email or in person, online through comment submission and via a public meeting.”
As noted above, the public meeting will be at a date and time to be determined shortly, at City Hall.
STAFF REPORTS AND UPDATES:
Municipal Cheque Register Report:
A motion to approve the City’s expenditures for March, 2025, CARRIED.
MEMBERS’ REPORTS:
Humpherys has attended a webinar on the Columbia River Treaty, with the negotiations now “paused” because of Trump. Humpherys said that Adrian Dix was not concerned, and “BC will hold the course.”
Morel had also attended that webinar, and reported that there were about 600 participants. He also attended a webinar on tariffs, also with many participants who had many concerns.
Morel ended the meeting with a formal recognition and appreciation of recently-retired pharmacist Cathy Sahlstrom, who is greatly missed. Some people had suggested that she be named “Citizen of the Year,” but because she doesn’t live in Rossland she isn’t eligible for that honour (at which point a voice piped up asking if she could be awarded honorary residency).
Morel read out a letter that he has drafted to send to her, and everyone still present applauded.
The meeting adjourned, and your reporter headed home, contemplating the importance of keeping municipal infrastructure in good repair, and how author Terry Fallis made that topic into an entertaining novel – do read “The High Road”; last time I looked, it was in our own Rossland Public Library.
