OLIVER COUNCIL BRIEFS
Legal advice sought on buy local policy
The town is moving toward a purchasing policy that further favours local suppliers to stimulate the local economy in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, but is seeking legal advice before proceeding.
The policy provides that local suppliers will be preferred over non-local ones, but only when other things – particularly price – are equal.
The proposal from staff at today’s council meeting recommended that the policy be waived so that local suppliers could be favoured even if their bids are higher than others.
Council seemed generally in favour of the idea. But after a caution from Mayor Martin Johansen decided to send the idea back to staff to seek legal advice.
His concern is that if a non-local company goes to the trouble and expense of preparing a bid, which is subsequently rejected in favour of a higher-priced local bid, there may be cause for a legal action against the town.
The issue will come back to council on May 11.
Tax bills will be higher despite town tax freeze
Local tax bills will be a little bit higher than last year, despite council’s recent decision to freeze property taxes at 2019 levels.
The municipal portion of the bill will not go up. But the town also collects taxes for the regional district, the library, hospitals, the school district and RCMP, which have all gone up. As a result, an average Oliver residence – assessed at $400,000 – will see an increase of about $69.
Local businesses will see their property tax bills jump by about $299 on average.
As decided at the last council meeting, the due date is July 2, as usual.
However, the former July 3, 10-per-cent penalty for late residential filing has been replaced by a one-per-cent late penalty on July 3 and a further four-per-cent ding on October 1. Business owners face five-per-cent late penalty on October 1.
SOSS grad banners get boost from town
The town will contribute up to $1,000 if it is needed for a project that will see South Okanagan Secondary School graduates’ names and photos on banners around the town.
The project, spearheaded by Councillor Petra Veintimilla, is aimed to “honour (the grads) in a different way,” since there will be no graduation ceremony and commencement this year.
The idea is to have banners with a student’s name and photo on each side hung from the town’s banner poles. They need to be double-sided because there aren’t enough poles to accommodate each of the 94 grads.
The cost is expected to be about $6,000. The grad committee is meeting next week and will be asked to contribute.
The town earlier resolved to pay for the installation and removal of the banners. Councillor Larry Schwartzenberger suggested that the town should get behind the project financially with a contribution from the grant-in-aid fund.
Councillor Dave Mattes voted against the idea, suggesting it will set a precedent and there will be requests every year. Veintimilla and Councillor Aimee Grice pointed out that the Covid-19 crisis make this an exceptional year and they have no worries about setting a precedent.
Reporter Roy Wood