Terrace Puts Up Cash to Explore Fair Share Agreement
Thursday, August 23, 2012 @ 4:00 AM
Prince George, B.C.- The City of Prince George is already on record as wanting to examine the potential of a fair share agreement with the Province, a deal that would see the City reap some tax benefits from industry outside the City Limits, but which rely on municipal support.
Now, the City of Terrace and Regional District of Kitimat Stikine, have joined forces to fund a study on this idea as it applies to their region.
The two levels of government are sharing the $17.5 thousand dollar cost of the study that will look at five areas which include examining the provincial revenue sources other than personal and corporate tax, how the revenues are distributed to municipal, regional and First Nations , examine revenue sharing agreements already in place, detail the proposed development in the northwest with a focus on those projects which would be appropriate for a fair share agreement and, develop recommendations and a case for such an agreement that can be presented to the Provincial government.
Revenue sharing is not new in B.C. The Peace region has a fair share agreement in place which sees various communities pick up a share of the revenue from the oil and gas industry. That share was more than $30 million dollars this year.
The Ft. Nelson region is in discussion with the Province on this matter as it sees the natural gas industry boom in its region and is hard pressed to deliver the infrastructure needed to support the boom. Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor, Bill Street has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Province to “examine the needs of the community and determine the best approach to providing infrastructure in the region”. Minister of Energy and Mines, Rich Coleman says the expansion of the oil and gas industry is important to the B.C. economy “It’s important for us to ensure that the communities hosting this industry are able to sustain the associated population growth and demand for services."
The City of Prince George recently approved calling on the UBCM to support a resolution which would clear the way for any community wishing to enter into such an agreement with the Province the ability to do so. Council also approved the Standing Committee on Finance and Audit be directed to "develop a strategy to negotiate a natural resource revenue sharing agreement with the Province of British Columbia".
The fair share issue is expected to be a key issue on the table at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Conference which is set for September 24-28th in Victoria.
Comments
Maybe the Regional District could look into a **Fair Share Agreement** with the City of Prince George, so that they could share in the taxes and revenue the City gets for outlying areas that at one time used to be in the Regional District.
Seems to me the common thread of sharing is that it goes in both directions.
Lots of Alberta licence plates in Terrace this year. Usually quite a few fishermen but not this many. Allison is going to have her cake and eat it too
I hope that when they venture out on this that they may end up discovering that they are already receiving more of their “fair share” …. :-)
I mean, just as a for instance, there is a hell of a lot of highway that was built to some of these remote locations and is being maintained. Smithers and Terrace and Rupert each have airports as well which are investments in maintaining “lifelines” to the rest of the world.
In fact, speaking about world, maybe there should be a fair share agreement with the rest of the world for our sharing our resources with them…..
I would like to see a breakdown of the $30 million that the Peace received. I mean, not everyone is sitting on oil and gas resources in his province so if PG expects $60 million because of our larger population, good luck! Our resources are in a nosedive situation in case people have not discovered.
Speaking of oil and gas, this whole thing is starting to sound like Trudeau’s idea of a fair share agreement between Alberta and the rest of Canada. I could’a sworn that the west was against that.
RDFFG already gets money from the City of PG. The taxes paid by property owners go to
1. City of PG
2. RDFFG
3. Northern Health
4. SD57
While PG has several services which are jointly funded, I am not sure how the “fair share” concept would look when applied to money into the system from local taxpayers and value out for local residents by specific areas.
Sort of like going to a Chinese restaurant with good friends and deciding that the group of 8 would select several dishes to be shared and that a single bill would be paid with the bill divided equally among the 8.
Do that a few times, then realize that the prawn and peking duck dishes were being paid for by everyone, but only eaten by a few ……. and how long will the sharing go on before people will mutter about opting out and ordering and paying individually ……
Ah, but if the 8 people chose the buffet instead of individual dishes they could have variety at half the cost. I wonder if city council dinners are a buffet style ?
They might get variey at half the cost …. but the level drops as the cost drops … or do youy live in some sort of magical world where you get more than you pay for?
If you do, I have news for you. Look around and see who is subsidizing you. ;-)
It’s a $8.95 lunch buffet at cheapy Sams diner.
Or a $17.95 Sunday brunch at Sammy’s Motel and gas bar.
Or a $70.00 seafood Easter Sunday brunch buffet at Griffon’s.
I’ll take door #2. I hear the service at Sammy’s is far superior to Griffon’s.
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