Ashcroft Five Year Financial Plan

On May 4th, the Ashcroft Council held a public meeting to go over the villages five year financial plan. It is mandated that all municipalities hold this meeting in such a fashion that the public have an opportunity to have their voice heard. Due to the ongoing pandemic situation with COVID19, the Village of Ashcroft opted to have the HUB Online Network do the meeting via livestream in their Fecebook page. It would be up to the HUB Online Network to manage and ask any questions that may arise through the videos live chat stream or via email.

The meeting was attended by: Mayor Barbara Roden. Counsellors – Thouey, Davenport, Anstett and Anderson. With CFO Bhalla and CAO Dyke. Gareth Smart was the representative from the HUB Online network.

The presentation was a PowerPoint slide show that showcased what the villages fiscal budget was in 2018, and 2019 to show where the village was. Then moved onto what the village was doing in 2020. This included what assets the village had i.e. buildings, vehicles, infrastructure etc, and what those assets were worth. Lastly CFO Bhalla talked about the next five years, what items would need to be replaced, what new items needed to be purchased, and what assets needed renovations. Some of the items that needed to be renovated were: The curling arena and the hot tub at the local pool. Some items that needed to be replaced were: The garbage truck and a heavy loader. Some new things that needed to be purchased included New software for the village office.

Other things covered in the five year budget were the money that should be coming into the village via taxes, and where those monies are allocated to such as: sewer, water, garbage, hospitals, schools and policing as well as public works and the office staff.

This breakdown also took into account projects that the village is currently in the middle of paying for and what some of the upcoming greenlit projects are. There was also talk about how much disposable cash is available in case of an emergency. The current overall outlook of Ashcroft is fairly positive.

There were then several questions posed by a member of the public Gloria Mertens, some that reflected what the topic of discussion was and others that were pretty off topic. some of these questions posed by Gloria are numbered below:

Gloria Mertens asked:

1. "It was stated at the beginning that this meeting is mandated by the Community Charter. In light of the fact that the five year plan and tax rate bylaws have already gone through three readings by Council, is there any effect that feedback from the public today will be incorporated in any plans for the upcoming year? Could you elaborate"?

2. "According to the mayor’s Facebook page advertising this meeting, the virtual Town Hall was going to present the Village of Ashcroft’s yearly budget as well as its Five Year Financial Plan. There is information about the Five Year Plan, but there seems to be no slides for the Village of Ashcroft budget. A budget usually shows details of each account and monetary amounts designated to each of those line items. I am wondering if some slides were missing? If not, could some cost amounts be given for each of the projects listed on the last page? Is there any budget for improving pathways throughout the village: connecting the town’s three neighbourhoods, building a pathway down Evans Road, or making a safe schools pathway"?

3. "According to the presentation, property tax is based on assessed value and that assessed value is determined by the BC Assessment Authority. If you go onto the BC Assessment site, the assessed value of buildings on the Ashcroft Terminal parcels is over $3 million dollars, which it has been for at least two years. I believe that Ashcroft Terminal is the only business classified as light industry in the town, so I am assuming that the assessed value of $155 400 as per the General Tax Revenue statement presented at the April 27, 2020 regular meeting of council is for Ashcroft Terminal. That being the case, ,a tax rate of 21.3169/$1000 X$155 000 compared with 21.3169/$1000 X $3, 226, 800 is substantially different, in fact a difference of $65,000.. Please clarify. Is the light industry company paying its share of taxes based on its assessment"?

4. "Could you please explain the parcel taxes in general and the parcel tax projections in the five year plan"?

The above questions presented by Gloria Mertens, were answered by both Mayor Roden and CFO Bhalla. The Five Year Financial plan for Ashcroft will be subject to council vote during the next council meeting.