Council integrates fire protection taxes

Published: February 10, 2009 7:00 PM Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star

All Vernon taxpayers will now pay the same firefighting taxes, but there will continue to be two departments for the time being. Council voted Monday to integrate the separate fire protection taxes in Okanagan Landing and the rest of the city into one levy. “We are making everyone in the city pay the same for fire services,” said Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe. When Okanagan Landing was annexed into Vernon in 1993, a specified area was established so residents there only pay taxes for fire protection they receive under contract from the Okanagan Landing Fire Department Association. Taxes from residents of the rest of the city goes towards operation of the downtown fire hall. The situation has frustrated Coun. Shawn Lee. “Are they Vernon or aren’t they Vernon?” he said.

If the two individual services were to continue, an average home in the Landing would have paid $165 a year while a home in Vernon would have paid $215 (both having a base taxation of $840). Under integration, there will not be separate tax bills for fire suppression and each home will have a base taxation of $1,037. Landing residents will pay $80 more this year. City staff claim that tax integration will address the rest of the city subsidizing the Landing $489,000 a year for non-suppression services like medical first responders.

There has been some debate about whether the contract with the Okanagan Landing Fire Department Association should end and the two halls should be merged under city administration. But Coun. Jack Gilroy insists that’s a separate issue.“This has to do with taxation of all citizens of Vernon,” he said. O’Keefe says she was assured by city staff that a single tax rate doesn’t mean merging fire halls will occur. “In no way am I voting against firefighters in the Landing. I believe in our firefighters there. I won’t vote against them,” she said. However, Coun. Patrick Nicol is convinced there is a connection. “There’s something further than full tax integration involved,” he said. But that view was countered by Leon Gous, chief administrative officer. “The two (issues) are separate and there is nothing sneaky going on. This is based purely on the 2009 budget,” he said of the new tax model.

The Okanagan Landing Fire Department Association had wanted separate taxation to remain in place and had suggested that residents there be billed for non-suppression services they receive from the city. But now that the tax process has been integrated, chief Ed Forslund believes it reinforces the need for the Landing fire hall to continue to operate as an independent entity. “We’re saving all of the citizens of Vernon money by being a volunteer operation. We operate effectively,” he said. If both departments were to be merged, there is the possibility that unionized, full-time firefighters could be stationed at the Landing hall and Forslund says that would be a costly proposition for all taxpayers in Vernon. According to Gilroy, the Landing’s volunteers provide an important service and they will still be involved even if the departments join. “Council is not trying to get rid of the volunteer association in the Landing. We want to enhance it,” he said. It’s not expected that council will make a decision on the contract with the Landing firefighters until a business plan for firefighting services is presented by city staff in the next few months.