Note: As always any discussion of taxes and spending by the District is not official until the financial plan and tax rate bylaw are passed in mid-May, and council can decide to make changes between now and then.
Tumbler Ridge Businesses will be getting a 100 percent tax cut for 2020 in an effort to forestall any business closures.
Council also discussed the idea of giving residents a 50 percent tax cut, but that motion was defeated, though it may be brought back later on once the fallout from the current pandemic is better known.
Councillor Howe brought both motions forward, and says he is “disgusted” that the 50 percent residential tax cut wasn’t passed. “If you wanted to get the $500,000 back from the residents, it’s an one-time increase to all tax payers of ten percent once for five years. That’s all it would take the money back. That’s the timeline.”
But, he says, doing something now to help the businesses is even more important. Councillor Krakowka agrees. He is worried that if nothing is done, the businesses won’t come back. “Hair dressers might have to move back into their house, and there’s no businesses in the downtown core again,” he says. “This is what we need to do, as a council. We all got an email from the Tumbler Ridge Inn. From Home Hardware. I can’t speak to those businesses, but it’s not good. When you start losing businesses, you are going to start losing residents.”
Even if residents don’t move, their spending dollars will start to go elsewhere, he says. “I own a business,” he says. “ I didn’t mind increasing business taxes when we talked about it a month ago. But there was no Covid-19 then. We have restaurants that have shut down. Hair Dressers that have been order to closed. Covid-19 came in and affected the economy. Air Canada is not flying to Fort St John anymore. Why do you think that is? We have tough times coming.”
Councillor Norbury says he’s worried that most of the businesses that would be benefiting would not be local. “There are 180 businesses in the tax class,” he says. 102 of those are not Tumbler Ridge businesses. They’re not small business owners. The small business owners are the people we should be targeting, but we can’t with this motion. If we can find the correct way to help these businesses, we should do that.”
Krakowka says he doesn’t care where the home offices are. “We can’t pick and choose,” he says. “It’s a blanket.” But, he says, it’s a blanket that will help keep people employed.
According to the Tumbler Ridge Chamber of commerce, there have been at least 100 people that have been laid off due to impacts from the pandemic from the town’s small businesses, which includes businesses with less than 40 employees. “Those numbers are from a few days ago” says Chamber Manager Jerrilyn Schembri. “I’ve heard of at least ten more people laid off since then.”
She says those numbers also don’t include the figures for larger businesses. “It also doesn’t included numbers from businesses that have been ordered closed, like hairdressers, or from the District, which has laid off all part time staff,” says Schembri.
Norbury says the district is still providing services. “This is where we should be spending the money. We are doing a disservice to the businesses in this community by offering this tax cut to 60 percent of the businesses that don’t need it.”
Councillor Howe says it doesn’t matter where the business is headquartered from “The business is in Tumbler Ridge,” he says. “They provide employment in town. They should be the ones to decide how to spend their money. Put the money back int their pocket. Take a look at a guy like Sam [Mangali, owner of the Tumbler Ridge Inn]. Sam doesn’t live in Tumbler Ridge. But he employs 36 people here in Tumbler Ridge. We want businesses like that to succeed.”
Councillor Miedzinski wonders if there are other ways to directly help businesses, like waiving the fee for garbage collection. “I think we get into a lot of these debates because we are a very forward looking community,” he says. “When we were talking about shutting down the VIC, the Community Centre, we were ahead of the curve, and it lead to a heated debate.” He says this might be a bit too far ahead of the curve for him. “If we brought it back in three months, I might be in favour of it.”
But that will be too late, predicts Councillor Krakowka. “Now is the time to do this. It’s not three months from now. Three months is too late. If we start losing businesses like Home Hardware, more will follow, because people will go out of town to do their shopping. If I have to go out of town to get my hair cut, I might as well do my shopping out of town. Go to the dollar store. Go to the mechanic. The more businesses we can keep here, the less people are going to travel out of town for wood, paint. That’s my concern when the businesses start to close, it affects the residents.”
Councillor Lehmann says he’s not in favour of cutting taxes, but says he could vote in favour of this. However, he says, “businesses need to realize that if they get this break, it’s going to cost them down the road. And I can see obviously these businesses are hurting, but they have to realize it’s going to cost them down the road.”
Councillor Howe is not sure about that. “Do we need to make the money back? I don’t know that we do, but if we do, there is a way to do it.”
The motion ultimately passed.
A second motion to reduce residential taxes by 50 percent did not pass. Councillor Norbury says the cuts were too broad and not targeted enough. “Councillor Howe said we need to show courage and leadership,” says Norbury. “Well, not to cut taxes in a difficult time is financially responsible. We need to look at what we need this tax revenue for in the future.”
Mayor Bertrand says the situation has impacted everyone. “Not just in Tumbler Ridge but in the province. We have no idea when this is going to end,” he says. “To argue that we need more data, I disagree, this is affecting everyone. I disagree that we need to reach a targeted audience. I am in favour of this decrease, because it does affect everybody in town.”
Councillor Kirby says the town has had a lot of hits this year, from caribou to pipelines. The pandemic is just the latest in a series of social and financial impacts. She says that the district still has time to discuss this. “We have a month to hold on to this. We can do an economic impact. Let’s see what happens in the next month and look at it then. At this point in time, I’m not in favour. It’s just too soon to make this call. I’ve talked to a lot of people. The first thing they say is ‘it’s exactly what we need,’ but then they look down the road. People are here because they like the services. But what comes next? At this point, do we need to go to those extremes? I’m not against the motion for the amount, but for the timing.”
Councillor Lehmann also opposes the cuts, arguing few people have lost their jobs so far.
Councillor Miedzinski says historically the town has weathered hard times without cutting taxes. “We’ve had mines shut down for three years, there was not a tax decrease. Indeed, the tax rates went up to cover services.”
Councillor Krakowka supported the resolution, along with Howe and the Mayor. He says there have been people who have lost their jobs. “I think this is the time to help our residents.”
Councillor Howe says this tax break won’t help everyone in the community. “It’s not,” he says. “But it’s going to be close. What do you tell the 34 people who got laid off at the inn. This will help those people make their payments. Some people will benefit, some people won’t. But this is an opportunity. We had a $1.1 million surplus. That’s where I came up with the numbers. We haven’t once talked about is how this is going to cost us less as a district. We’re going to spend less money. We have no people using the Community Centre. We’ve laid off our casual employees. They’re not spending money on an ice plant. Lights. The price of fuel is half right now. We’re saving money; there’s no reason to collect this money right now. Yes, we are going to have to find the money in the future. But this is a one-time thing. It’s an opportunity for us to help the residents.”
And think of the positive impacts, he says. “People will hear about Tumbler Ridge and want to come here. Maybe start a business, or move here.”
Councillor Miedzinski says he worries about the message it would send. “Residents might think ‘have we been paying too much all along?’ We have to stick to our guns and follow the long term plans. I’m on the fence with this one. We’re not just making money for nothing. We provide services. It’s tough to say we’re not hitting all the residents. I think we should look at other options. Is there another option? How can we help all the residents. There must be other options rather than a one-time tax decrease.”
In the end, the motion was defeated 4-3.
