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CITY OF VANCOUVER
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON
CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS
FEBRUARY 19, 1998 A Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Thursday, February 19, 1998, at 11:50 a.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall, following the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting, to consider the recommendations of the Committee.
Judy Rogers, Deputy City Manager
Tarja Tuominen
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Bellamy,
THAT this Council resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mayor Owen in the chair.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
COMMITTEE REPORTS Report of Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
February 19, 1998
Council considered the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in the following clauses of the attached report:
Cl.1: 1998 Park Board Capital Budget
Cl.2: Three-Year Land Value Averaging for 1998 Property Tax Calculations
Cl.3:Position Paper on Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration
1998 Park Board Capital Budget
(Clause 1)
MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
THAT the recommendation of the Committee, as contained in Clause 1 of this report, be approved.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY Three-Year Land Value Averaging
for 1998 Property Tax Calculations
(Clause 2)
MOVED by Cllr. Bellamy,
THAT the recommendation of the Committee, as contained in Clause 2 of this report, be approved.
- CARRIED
(Cllr. Chiavario opposed )
Position Paper on Not Just Numbers:
A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration
(Clause 2)
MOVED by Cllr. Herbert,
THAT this report be received for information and endorsed to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Legislative Review Ministerial Consultations as the City’s position on the document entitled "Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration."
- LOST
Councillors Bellamy, Kennedy, Daniel Lee, Don Lee and the Mayor opposed)
MOVED by Cllr. Kennedy,
THAT the position paper be received for information and permission be given to the Special Advisory Committee on Cultural Communities to advise the CIC Legislative Review Ministerial Consultations of the comments contained in the paper;
FURTHER THAT the Committee forward copies of the paper to the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver Parks Board, the GVRD municipalities, the FCM and the UBCM for their information.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
MOVED by Cllr. Bellamy,
THAT the Committee of the Whole rise and report.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY ADOPT REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario ,
SECONDED by Cllr. Bellamy,
THAT the report of the Committee of the Whole be adopted.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY ENQUIRIES AND OTHER MATTERS
1. Leave of Absence - Councillor Chiavario
MOVED by Cllr. Kennedy,
SECONDED by Cllr. Bellamy,
THAT Councillor Chiavario be granted Leave of Absence for the evening of February 19, 1998.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
2. Leave of Absence - Councillor Clarke
MOVED by Cllr. Kennedy,
SECONDED by Cllr. Chiavario,
THAT Councillor Clarke be granted Leave of Absence for March 24, 1998.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
The Council adjourned at 11:55 a.m.
* * * * * REPORT TO COUNCIL
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
ON CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS
FEBRUARY 19, 1998
A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on City Services and Budgets was held on Thursday, February 19, 1998 at 9:30 a.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall.
Councillor Nancy A. Chiavario, Deputy Chair
Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Don Bellamy Councillor Jennifer Clarke Councillor Alan Herbert Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Gordon Price Councillor Sam SullivanJudy Rogers, Deputy City Manager
Tarja Tuominen
ADOPTION OF MINUTES
The Minutes of the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting of January 22, 1998, were adopted.
RECOMMENDATION
1. 1998 Park Board Capital Budget File: 1602
The Committee had before it an Administrative Report dated February 2, 1998 (on file) in which the Director of Finance advised of the funding requirements of the 1998 Park Board Basic Capital Budget and sought authorization and approval for the allocation of funding to individual projects. The General Manager of Corporate Services recommends approval.
Ken Bayne, Comptroller of Budgets & Research, presented a short introduction to the report, and noted the impact of some of the projects on the Operating Budget for future years.
Jim Lowden, Director of Park Planning & Development, Park Board, briefly described and responded to questions on the overall plan and individual projects.
The following motion by the Mayor was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,
RECOMMENDED
A. THAT the 1998 Park Board Basic Capital Budget totaling $7,513,150 as summarized in the Administrative Report, dated February 2, 1998, and detailed in Appendixes 1 and 2 of the Report, be approved, with the funding to be provided from the following sources;
a)$6,113,150 from borrowing authority as approved as part of the 1997-1999 Capital Plan, and
b)$1,400,000 from 1998 Revenue Capital, subject to the approval of the 1998 Operating Budget.
B.THAT Council approve as part of the 1998 Park Board Capital Budget, the allocation of $1.0 million of the Community Centre improvement funding approved in an opinion question accompanying the 1996 municipal election, source of funding to be an increase in Capital from Revenue in the 1998 Operating Budget. This approval is subject to approval of the 1998 Operating Budget.
2. Three-Year Land Value Averaging for 1998 Property Tax Calculations
The Committee had before it a Policy Report dated February 10, 1998 (on file), in which the Director of Finance reviewed the effects of three-year land averaging and recommended three-year land assessment averaging as the preferred 1998 taxation option for residential and business properties.
Karen Levitt, Financial Analyst, with the aid of slides and a handout (on file), presented an overview of, and responded to questions on, the report. Some of the highlights of the presentation included: 1998 property tax issues, effects of land value averaging, assumptions for modelling of averaging, and the impacts of averaging on Class 1 (residential) and Class 6 (business) properties.
The following motion by the Mayor was put and carried. The Committee, therefore
RECOMMENDED
A.THAT Council approve three-year land value averaging as the 1998 property tax calculation methodology for the residential (Class 1) and business/other (Class 6) properties as discussed in the Administrative Report, dated February and that the property taxes for all other classes (Classes 2, 4, 5, 8 and 9) be calculated using market assessed values.
B.THAT the Directors of Finance and Legal Services be instructed to submit a by-law to Council, for approval before March 31st of this year, which sets out the particulars of averaging in accordance with the provisions of the Vancouver Charter.
C.THAT Council instruct the Director of Finance to make appropriate arrangements with the BC Assessment Authority for the production of an averaged 1998 taxation roll, at an approximate cost of $20,000, with funding approved in advance of the 1998 operating budget.
cont'd
Clause No. 2 (cont'd)
D.THAT the Director of Finance be authorised to place the required advertisements in a local newspaper notifying the City’s taxpayers of Council’s intent to implement three-year land averaging and showing the effects of averaging on sample properties within the City.
- CARRIED
(Cllr. Chiavario opposed)
3.Position Paper on Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration
The Committee had before it a position paper, dated February 16, 1998 (on file), from the Special Advisory Committee on Cultural Communities. In the paper, the Special Advisory Committee responded to a draft policy report released by the Legislative Review Advisory Group for Citizenship and Immigration entitled: Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration.
Eleanor Atienza, Chair; Muna Prasad and Suzanne Strutt, Members, Special Advisory Committee on Cultural Communities, presented the Special Advisory Committee’s position (summary paper filed). Some of the points made in the presentation included:
·key proposals of the draft report are to: separate immigration and citizenship legislation from refugee protection legislation; replace the present points system with a core standards formula for immigration; and require some level of proficiency in English or French from potential immigrants;
·The Special Advisory Committee focussed on two aspects of the review: how the proposals contribute to community building; and, the role of the City in dealing with its immigrants;
cont'd
Clause No. 3 (cont'd)
·the Committee has concerns on several key areas, such as, language requirements, imposition of language fees, and role of the City, and therefore requests the Legislative Review address these.
The Special Advisory Committee submitted three options for the Standing Committee’s consideration:
·the position paper be received for information and endorsed as the City’s position to the Ministerial Review Consultations; or
·the paper be received for information and staff be directed to prepare a City position using the paper as a basis, and that position be endorsed to the Ministerial Consultations; or
·the paper be received for information and the Committee permitted to advise the Ministerial Consultations of the comments contained in the paper.
Judy Rogers, Deputy City Manager, advised the Special Advisory Committee has put together a response to the Federal Government’s report in a very short time. The Advisory Committee is not suggesting specific recommendations but is highlighting specific areas which need to be reviewed or clarified.
During discussion, the Standing Committee members expressed concern they had not had sufficient time to read the Special Advisory Committee’s report, as it had been distributed late. Members also noted immigration issues are a federal responsibility, not a municipal one. In addition, some members expressed concern the Advisory Committee would not be adequately prepared to respond to intensive questioning on municipal concerns by the Federal Panel.
cont'd
Clause No. 3 (cont'd)
The following motion by Councillor Herbert was put and lost.
THAT this report be received for information and endorsed to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Legislative Review Ministerial Consultations as the City’s position on the document entitled "Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration".
- LOST
(Councillors Bellamy, Kennedy, Daniel Lee, Don Lee and the Mayor opposed)
(Councillor Price not present for the vote)
The following motion by Councillor Kennedy was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,
RECOMMENDED
THAT the position paper be received for information and permission be given to the Special Advisory Committee on Cultural Communities to advise the CIC Legislative Review Ministerial Consultations of the comments contained in the paper;
FURTHER THAT the Committee forward copies of the paper to the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver Parks Board, the GVRD municipalities, the FCM and the UBCM for their information.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
(Councillor Price not present for the vote)
The meeting adjourned at 11:50 a.m.
* * * * *
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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver