Mills gone, taxes stay

To manage costs, the council voted to close the Mackenzie Recreation Centre every Sunday from April through September. Atkinson admitted the decision was not popular, but said closing during hockey season was never considered. The facility brings in hundreds of visitors on winter weekends for tournaments.

“We were well aware that we could never do this in the wintertime,” she said. “This centre probably has hundreds of people here every weekend because we host many hockey tournaments in Mackenzie. So that was why we decided to go with the closure during the summer, when people had other opportunities to get outside and connect and stay fit.”

The financial situation is expected to become more complicated. The province plans to phase out a $200 rural and northern homeowners’ benefit in 2027, saying this is because the consumer carbon tax the benefit was meant to offset is being repealed.

All B.C. homeowners get a $570 benefit toward property taxes, and northern and rural residents have been eligible for an extra $200.

Atkinson says the cut does not consider the realities of living far from cities, where going to the dentist or a specialist means spending hours driving on the highway.

“I don’t think the solution is on the backs of rural and small communities,” she said. “They have to recognize that anyone in this community who needs to go to a dentist, get their eyes checked, or see a specialist is spending hours on the highway for a round trip, with the high cost of gas.”

Mackenzie council has supported a resolution calling on the province to retain the benefit. The resolution will be presented at the North Central Local Government Association’s annual general meeting in Prince George from May 20 to 22.

The district is also supporting a separate resolution that asks B.C. Assessment to move data centres and bitcoin mines into a higher industrial property tax category. Atkinson says Mackenzie’s largest data centre uses 100 megawatts of power but pays the lowest industrial rate, classified as “business, other.”

“They pay for business class. They don’t pay heavy industry tax rates, yet they use a tremendous amount of hydroelectricity,” Atkinson said. “Our logic is that if it has such a big effect on the community’s power supply, they should be moved into a different class.”

Atkinson stressed that this effort is not a criticism of the data centre company IREN, which she says has been a strong community partner and is currently expanding its presence in the area.

Despite the financial challenges, Atkinson pointed to several new projects as reasons for cautious optimism. The BMI Group has bought the former Paper Excellence pulp mill. Expander Energy has proposed a biofuel plant that could create 20 to 25 full-time jobs using local wood waste.

A federally approved Enbridge pipeline expansion is also expected to bring a 500-person work camp to the industrial site.

“The final decision hasn’t been made,” Atkinson said about the biofuel proposal. “There are, of course, lots of hoops to jump through, but it’s at least something we can look forward to, and there’s potential for that industrial site.”

She says her remaining months in office will focus on securing fibre supply for Mackenzie’s community forest, a joint venture with the McLeod Lake Indian Band that generates annual dividends for the district.

“Mackenzie has always been a resilient community,” she said. “We get knocked down, we just get back up and regroup. In two weeks, we will celebrate our 60th anniversary of incorporation. We’ve always been resilient, and I think that is the strength of this community.”

by Dave Branco

Mills gone, taxes stay

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