Having a fire protection agreement for rural fringe residents in place is a big relief Cariboo Regional Director director Joan Sorley said.
On Friday the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) and the City of Williams Lake announced they had reached an agreement that will commence Jan. 1, 2014.
“I am extremely relieved that we have come to an agreement,” Sorley said.
“People know what their tax burdens are going to be. I felt that we really had to hold off on moving forward with anything else, like the pool, until we had the fire agreement settled.”
The new agreement is based on a flat fee of $534,494.06 for a five-year term with an annual two percent non-cumulative increase beginning in 2015. The agreement is within the parameters of the CRD November 2012 referendum.
Based on the agreement, the CRD’s annual contributions to the City of Williams Lake would be $534,494.06 in 2014, $545,183.94 in 2015, $555,873.82 in 2016, $566,563.70 in 2017 and $577,253.58 in 2018.
“This is great news for our community,” Mayor Kerry Cook said. “This agreement creates certainty for both rural fringe and city residents that will provide important financial stability for the city over the next five years.
“We look forward to working with the regional district to continue serving our residents together.”
The CRD will host a scheduled public meeting on April 25 at 5:30 p.m. in the Gibraltar Room to discuss the agreement and answer any questions.