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Port Moody and Coquitlam mayors are singing from the same song book when it comes to the long-awaited Evergreen Line — both want the Burnaby to Coquitlam project to be built soon.
But when it comes to paying for the $1.4-billion project with property taxes, they’re humming different tunes.
This week, the two will vote along with the rest of the region’s mayors and councillors at a Metro Vancouver meeting at which the region’s staff are recommending the scrapping of a controversial property tax hike to pay for TransLink’s $400-million share of the line.
While the outcome has no direct bearing on what funding mechanism TransLink eventually chooses to pay for its share, it will be a chance for regional mayors to do a little sabre rattling.
Both Coquitlam’s Richard Stewart and Port Moody’s Joe Trasolini are against using property taxes to fund transportation improvements but Stewart accepts the idea of saying yes to enable TransLink to meet its funding commitment and give the mayors’ council more time to come up with other funding sources.
“We’ve got to put something on the table, let us put it on the table but [then] let’s talk for the year about substituting a better method,” Stewart said.
But Trasolini said he’s worried once a tax is approved, there will be no going back, noting, “Once you pass a tax, it stays.”
The Port Moody mayor is skeptical of an agreement reached between the province and the mayors’ council to talk about new funding sources, such as a benefiting-area tax. He voted against the memorandum of understanding earlier this year and thinks TransLink’s mayors should vote down the property tax hike, which he thinks taxpayers won’t stand for.
He said he supports a vehicle levy, noting that TransLink has authority to implement it even though the province would have to approve a mechanism to collect the money.
“It can be done immediately and some of the other steps take a little longer,” said Trasolini.
Mayor Stewart doesn’t believe the process for implementing a vehicle levy is so simple and he’s concerned an anti-property tax vote by the mayors will erode the progress made to come up with better solutions for long-term, sustainable funding for TransLink.
“If we tell the province to get stuffed on this, our taxpayers are the ones who will suffer,” said Stewart, who said the mayors all knew property taxes were going to be used to fund the Evergreen Line when they approved it four years ago and they shouldn’t be backing down now. “We’re breaking a commitment that the mayors of the day made.”
While Friday’s vote won’t make a difference on Evergreen Line funding, Stewart is concerned a No by the Metro Vancouver board to the property tax plan will send a negative message to senior levels of government that have already put up their share.
“I think there’s too much at stake here to vote it down… I want TransLink off the back of local taxpayers because there are better tools,” Stewart said, although he said he doesn’t think the Evergreen Line is at risk and expects construction to start next year as planned.
Trasolini, on the other hand, said rejection of property taxes in favour transportation-related fees is a no-brainer for Metro Vancouver because it gets 30% of its billion-dollar budget from property taxes.
“It is no surprise to anybody that Metro Vancouver doesn’t want their sources of funding taxed,” said Trasolini.
Still, he said he hasn’t decided how he will vote on TransLink’s two supplemental plan funding options on Dec. 9 — which propose raising property taxes either $36 to $61 year per average household to pay for the Evergreen Line and other transportation improvements. He said he’ll wait to hear what residents have to say at a town hall meeting slated for Nov. 29 at PoMo city hall before deciding how he’ll vote.
A tale of two meetings
• Metro Vancouver — Friday, Nov. 26: Metro Vancouver board meeting where directors, including Tri-City mayors and councillors, are being asked to reject TransLink’s Moving Forward supplemental plan that would raise property taxes to pay for the Evergreen Line, the United Boulevard extension and other transit initiatives. Staff report recommends TransLink come up with another supplemental plan, instead.
• TransLink — Thursday, Dec. 9: TransLink Mayors’ Council to vote on the Moving Forward supplemental plan which would require, on the average home, $36 or $61 year extra in property taxes, depending on the option. Decision must be made by the end of December to enable TransLink to meet its obligations for the Evergreen Line, to which it has committed $400 million.
Diane Strandberg | dstrandberg@tricitynews.com | – The Tri-City News -
