As Kamloops Council approves mill rates, the Mayor says there’s issue with the cost for major industry – radionl.com

Kamloops City Council has approved the 2020mill rates which determine what each tax class will contribute to the tax base.

Mayor Ken Christian says it was approved fairly quickly which is a reflection of the finance committee spending a lot of time on it over the winter.

He says we do have an issue with respect to the rate for major industry. That really only affects Domtar and Tolco. And its a remnant of a kinder and gentler time when Weyerhauser was the only show in town and they were paying a lot of the freight. And now Domtar is left and theyre paying just over $5.5 million a year in their tax bill.

Christian says it is working to try and make that more fair but it needs other industries and utilities to help spread that tax burden.

Major industry will be taxed $68.30 per $1000 of assessed value. Ken Christian says the tax burden is slowly shifting more onto home owners.

There was a time when this was a resource based town and those resource industries were right in town, we used to have a sawmill right down here and that kind of thing. That has changed. And certainly we have got a lot more of our taxes from the residential tax base as we shift to a knowledge based economy.

Christian says the tax structure was still sort of camped in the 70s and council has been active in trying to modernize it.

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As Kamloops Council approves mill rates, the Mayor says there's issue with the cost for major industry - radionl.com