Parcel Tax for Central Cariboo Fire Protection?

On January 6th of this year - Cariboo RD Area 'E' resident Peter Priestman wrote to the Cariboo Regional District expressing a concern he has on the current situation on rural fringe fire protection which affects those residing in certain parts of CRD Areas D, E and F that border the City of Williams Lake municipal boundaries

You can read his letter in full here

In his letter, Mr. Priestman suggests that fire protection should be funded on the basis of a parcel tax to level the playing field for something as basic as fire protection.  This is an idea that should be given consideration, given fire protection is being provided to both City of WL Residents & Cariboo RD Areas D, E, F rural fringe residents from 1 Fire Department -- City of Williams Lake Fire Department and paying for their costs should be divided equally from all who receive the service, regardless of where one lives and what their property assessment is

Mr. Priestman also calls for a review of all services that are provided on a sub-regional basis (pool, ice arenas, etc) and paid for equally - again, regardless of where you live, whether within the City of Williams Lake or CRD Areas D, E, F

Finally - Mr. Priestman, I believe, likely speaks for most, if not, all Cariboo RD Rural Fringe residents' by saying:

It would appear that the fringe area residents' are being asked to pay for the new (City of Williams Lake) Fire Hall with an almost punitive zeal

AND

They (City of WL) need to be reminded that we work in or near c City boundaries, spend our money in the City, participate and volunteer in the City, express pride and love for our City, even though we live outside the City of WL defined boundaries

I think that this is a frustration of the 'stunt' the City of Williams Lake elected officials pulled between the vote on Nov 24th which enjoyed near-unanimous support to Dec 11th when WL City Council decided to get 'greedy' and see if they could 'bluff' CRD Rural Fringe residents' to pay more, after the referendum, for fire protection - a move I expect to see residents' decry as a 'bully tactic' and I also expect to see residents' call for, in fairly substantive numbers, to say to the CRD Staff/Elected Officials (Directors)"Let's stick it to the City and let's do our own volunteer fire department".

A move, by the way, which could cost the City close to $600-700,000 or an instant 6-7% tax hike before WL Council decides its' final budget for 2013, rather than the $130,000 the City would have lost annually by keeping to the Nov 24th fire protection arrangement

-- SBF