Heritage Park Service Area Establishment

Heritage Park Museum is located in Terrace and provides programs and events for local residents and visitors. In order to continue contributing to the on-going cost of operating Heritage Park Museum, the RDKS Board of Directors intends to update the funding method.

The Issue: Currently, residents in Electoral Area E (Thornhill) and a portion of Electoral Area C (the greater Terrace area) contribute to the operation of Heritage Park Museum through an annual grant-in-aid. Grants-in-aid typically are meant for infrequent or one-time payments and aren’t ideal for regular funding.

The Proposed Solution: Instead of the annual grant-in-aid, the RDKS would use a “Service Area” funding model. This means funding would be based on the property value in the designated service area and the cost would be part of those residents’ taxes. Many local government services are administered this way.

The Cost: The RDKS is aware that cost is a concern for residents. Here’s the breakdown:

• The maximum annual amount that the RDKS would contribute is $40,000 total per year, which is consistent with previous RDKS support for the Museum.
• The average contribution per property would be $10.21 per year. This is calculated at $0.0259 per $1,000 of net taxable land and improvements based on the average residential property price in the service area, $394,000.
• If this was done by parcel tax (flat rate) instead of by property value, the cost would be approximately $11.35 per year.

What’s the next step?

The RDKS Board approved using the Alternative Approval Process (AAP) to determine if residents support the change at the April Board meeting, along with the draft bylaw. At the May meeting, the Board will consider the timeframe for the AAP, the total elector numbers and the elector response form. If those motions pass, the RDKS will communicate with residents about the process and timeline and prepare to begin the AAP, likely within June to August. Keep checking back at this page, follow RDKS on social media, or contact our office at 250-615-6100 or email info@rdks.bc.ca.

If you support the proposal, there will be no action required on your part.

Prior to the AAP process, the RDKS ran a survey for Areas 'E' and 'C' residents regarding the Heritage Park Museum Service Area which closed on March 31, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. Next steps in the process can be viewed in the Fact Sheet in the Supporting Documents section on this page, and the FAQ section has answers to some of the questions residents are asking.

Photo credit: Heritage Park Museum