Quesnel City Council met April 22 where they approved the tax rate for 2025, approved a brief review of some city policies and received information from the Foundry, a health and wellness facility for youth expected to open in 2028.
Policy and bylaw committee report
The meeting started by council going over the policy and bylaw committee report. The report had a review of several policies including flags, the little people fire hydrants and banners around the city. Several of the policies did not have any changes to them, but are reviewed every five years.
A change was made to the flagpole policy for group flags to be flown at LeBourdais Park. The previous guideline had a maximum of two weeks for a flags to be flown but for events and awareness months that last a whole month, an exception had to be made by council. This was seen recently when council approved the extension of the MS awareness flag to be flown for the month of May rather than just two weeks. The addition was made to the policy so the city's director of community services can approve a flag to be flown longer than two weeks.
Accessibility committee report
Coun. Martin Runge gave the report from the accessibility committee's last meeting. The committee discussed the city's snow removal policy, which is currently being updated. Members of the committee asked the city consider prioritizing high-traffic areas, covered bus stops, early morning services to the downtown area, clearing ramps from the marked disability parking spots and ramp-to-sidewalk ramp pathways.
An accessibility week event is coming up at the end of the month, the committee will have a presence at Spirit Square during accessibility week and will begin to collect responses on the new accessibility survey. Runge asked that any council members who have suggestions for changes to the committee's survey let him know.
The Quesnel Self Advocates will begin bringing awareness at city events for an event set for October called "The Amazing Race to Inclusion."
Northern Health also informed the committee the elevators at G.R. Baker are currently being repaired and there may be challenges and service interruptions for the elevators in the hospital while repairs are being done.
CRD board highlights
The last CRD board meeting was held in late March. The CRD is considering changes to carriage home bylaws, loosening the restrictions to allow more housing to build on existing lots.
A $9.9 million community works fund is going to be spent around the CRD. All community works funds received before Jan. 1, 2025 must be spent by the end of 2029 so the board is considering the best projects to put that money towards.
What has been determined is $500,000 from the community works fund will go towards the Red Bluff fire hall replacement, approved in 2024. The funds will reduce the expected tax increase from $59.96 per $100,000 in assessed value to $48.35 per $100,000 in assessed value.
Electoral area "D" has had $5,000 allocated to survey the constituents regarding dog control services in the area. If the surveys find people would like dog control services, more action may be taken in the future.
Mayor's report on COFI
Mayor Ron Paull attended the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) convention in March and listed some of his key takeaways. One of them is regarding Quesnel's sister city, Shiraoi, Japan. Paull said after hearing several speakers at the convention bring up broadening forestry exports beyond the U.S., his mind went to Shiraoi.
Paull and several members of the city will be going to Shiraoi in July, and Paull said he believes it would be a good opportunity to discuss lumber needs in Japan to help open up the Asian marketplace to B.C. timber while Canada is facing economic threats from our southern neighbours.
He also said looking into potential of vacant land might be a good use of city time for modular homes, mass timber, tiny homes or pre-fab accessory dwelling units.
Paull added that the COFI convention is a great resource for local governments to connect with industry and find places they can work together.
Taxes
The municipal tax portion of property taxes are 45 per cent of total property tax paid by residences. Another 28 per cent is from the school tax, North Cariboo recreation is 14 per cent, the regional hospital tax is nine per cent and the rest is from other taxing authorities including the regional district, municipal finance authority and BC Assessment.
Residential buildings will see an approximate increase of $24.67 per $100,000 in assessed value. Businesses will see an increase of $125.16 per $100,000 of assessed value.
The city's report on taxes and the five year financial plan acknowledges the city's tax on major industry is in the top quarter of the province and represents 53 per cent of total taxation in the city. Business and other tax rates are above average compared to the rest of B.C. while residential rates are below average.
In total, the municipal tax rate increased by 6.7 per cent from 2024, for the average single family home that comes to around $87.98. Other tax rate increases include:
- North Cariboo recreation: 6.6 per cent or $28.84 for the average home
- Cariboo Regional District: 3.3 per cent or $3.34 for the average home
- Regional hospital: 2.6 per cent or $6.75 for the average home
- School tax: three per cent or $24.10 for the average home
In total, the city calculates the average home will be paying an additional $149.56 in 2025 in property taxes. They also calculate an additional $53.14 per year in utilities increases for the average home.
Water main
The water main under Baker Creek that provides water to the Healy Street booster station, servicing all of Uplands, has been exposed after creek channel movement and erosion of the creek bank. An exposed water main is vulnerable to breaking or failure.
Some of the work ahead of repairing the main has been done including archeology and geotechnical investigation and tree and brush clearing. The project was approved for 2024 but missed the construction window. The lowest bid on the project by contractors exceeds what has been budgeted for and council approved an additional $97,000 to complete the repair. The project already had a remaining budget of $323,500 after the preliminary work had been finished last year.
The Foundry
The Foundry is a network of health and wellness locations around B.C., giving young people access to mental health care, substance use services, physical and sexual health care, youth and family peer supports and social services. The Foundry entered into an agreement with the YMCA to bring a location to Quesnel and provided council with an update.
An expected operational date will be 2028 as they continue to plan ahead.
As part of that planning they are looking for community members to give input on the facility. The first committee is for youth aged 12 to 24 for input on what the Foundry in Quesnel will look like. Youth will meet with the youth and family engagement leader and other youth for an hour each month to discuss a variety of topics around Foundry's development.
The other committee is for family and caregivers who support youth.
Both committees will help Foundry bridge any gaps and ensure Quesnel's youth can be comfortable and truly benefit from all of the services they have to offer.
People interested in taking part in either committee can email foundryquesnel@bc.ymca.ca.
The next council meeting is set for May 6.
