A topic that generated much discussion this past fall, most of it fuelled by a petition drive during the 2022 municipal election campaign, became part of the narrative of the Port's Annual Public Meeting presentation on Thursday.
That coming as part of the look at Port financials, PILT payments and property valuations.
The topic one which got a short mention in the Financial review from Vice President of Finance, Agnes Piotrowski, with a finical statement item noting of the reduction in PILT of the 58.0% reduction for 2022, but the VP not speaking to the topic in detail during the financial portion of the presentation on the night.
The larger explanation and commentary to the topic from the Port's view came later in the one hour APM, that from Vice President of Communications and Sustainability Ken Veldman, who responded to a question emailed to the Port during the public engagement period prior to the APM.
"So obviously this has been a conversation of some note within the community over the past year and so I think our response to this is probably not surprising. But I'll do it in a wholesome manner.
First and foremost, obviously we've seen a lot of growth over the last decade and largely that has been measured in terms of jobs and economic opportunity and what that's brought on that front and throughout this entire conversation, I don't think that has ever been in question which I think has been been great.
The second element is to note that PRPA, all of its tenants, all of the businesses within the Gateway do pay taxes and there is very clear Legislation that determines how those payments are made, but each and every single one pays property taxes.
Now that being said, as we've grown and you've seen those other economic benefits, there has also been a growth of tax base here. Ten years ago when you take that collective of I'll call it, Port businesses on PRPA property. That measured about five million dollars, last year that measured about 12 million dollars.
So we've seen significant growth on that tax base over the last ten years, and, it's almost two and half times ...
And the vast majority of that goes to the City of Prince Rupert, and about a million plus goes to Port Edward as well; but most of that goes to the City of Prince Rupert and it makes up about 40 precent of their annual revenues on a net tax revenue perspective.
And that's significant, based on you know comparable municipalities that's a very large tax base so that does continue to flow and as we continue to grow that will continue to grow.
Now a couple of pieces within that.
Number one what has driven that conversation is very much an understanding that the city's infrastructure, in particular water infrastructure is in a really critically urgent stage of renewal and I don't think anybody doubts that.
And what I really want to emphasize is that we have always been willing to be shoulder to shoulder with the City in terms of addressing that issue, and I actually see the mayor at the back.
And quite frankly I think that we've been very effective over the last few months working together as partners, with senior government, on the path to securing infrastructure funds at a level that is actually needed to address this issue.
We're not there yet, I feel like we're making very good progress, the announcement from the province a few months ago of 65 million dollars towards this, is a remarkable reflection of what that partnership has achieved and we've got more work to do and we'll continue to do that.
So while we will have disagreements on things like the province's tax cap and the value of that, more recently the Port appealed the valuation of its vacant lands. Which was a successful appeal where the BC Appeal board recognized that some previous assessments on our vacant land were erroneous and the methodology was flawed, and reset those assessments based on that finding.
That has an impact on city revenue we recognize that, but that is also you know a basic aspect of property taxation where properties need to be assessed according to that recognized methodology.
So while we will have challenges at times, especially on the financial side with the city there is an underlying natural partnership that is there, we have many more things in common than we have apart.
And when we have achieved great things in this community is when those partnerships have been effective and that's a very good example of that"
The video portion of that commentary can be reviewed from the Prince Rupert Port Authority APM video presentation, starting at around the one hour mark.
As was noted in the overview from the Port's VP of Communication and Sustainability, Mayor Herb Pond was in the audience on the evening.
Though so far Mayor Pond has not used his social media stream to share any notes or a civic response towards the Port's view of the financial differences of the last few years.
Also not heard from yet, the proponents of the Petition campaign, who have not as of yet offered up their thoughts on the Port's presentation of Thursday.
Some past background on that petition quest can be reviewed here.
As for the petition, it was presented to the Legislature by North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice in the Spring session, however what comes from that has yet to be be outlined.
Ms. Rice has also not yet offered any comments on the Port's Annual Public Meeting and the financial themes reviewed from it.
More notes on the Port's Annual gathering can be reviewed from our main article here.
City Discussion topics can be examined here, while our Legislature archive page can be found here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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