Monday - Jan. 13, 2025 - Hope considers property tax increase

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Good morning!

Last week, Tyler and I submitted some of our stories for potential awards. It’s one of the uncomfortable parts of journalism: you look at your past work and say “Yeah, this could be one of the best things a Canadian journalist has written this year,” while internally a dagger with the word hubris etched on it is stabbing you over and over for such blasphemy.

Of course, you just have to patch up the wound and do it. Whether we like it or not, winning awards proves our publication’s worth to our colleagues and to future readers. Plus, it’s one of the few ways to get an A at work.

The fact that we keep winning proves that spending an hour or two submitting awards is worth it. (Tyler has taken home an award each year that the Current has been around.) That said, your feedback is one of the best motivators and success measures we have for our publication.

So many of you have written in to share your thoughts on our work—and those thoughts, as we have said before, are overwhelmingly and shockingly positive. Thank you for all the mini awards you have given us over the years in your kind emails and thoughtful remarks. It means so much to us.

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope (We have had to temporarily change our forecast links to the Weather Network due to a technical error.)

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NEWS

Your 2025 mosquito forecast

Stock up on After Bite because the Fraser Valley could be headed for a particularly itchy 2025.

Record-low river levels in 2024 allowed locals to revel in a summer mostly free of blood-sucking mosquitoes. But a reckoning may be at hand, with a potential double dose of the pests possible in 2025.

• Today, Tyler has your 2025 mosquito forecast.

Related

Need to Know

🔥 Several Abbotsford-made airtankers are in Los Angeles battling the region’s devastating wildfires [Abbotsford News] / At least 24 people have died in the California fires, and more than 12,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed [Los Angeles Times]

🏫 Nearly three-quarters of Indigenous students graduated high school last year in the Fraser-Cascade School district; that is the highest completion rate in 15 years [Hope Standard]

🤝 The Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce is holding a meet-and-greet with elected officials, including Langley’s new MLAs, next week [Langley Advance Times]

⛳ Abbotsford golfer Nick Taylor won another PGA event [Sportsnet]

❄ What do Langley snow plow drivers do when there’s no snow? Practice and keep busy [Langley Advance Times] / Further east, Chilliwack faced its first December in a decade with no snow [Chilliwack Progress]

🚌 The Fraser Valley Express added three buses to its route on Jan. 5, but critics question if that will be enough to alleviate ridership pressure [CBC] / The Current first reported on the new buses in October [FVC]

🚔 A group of teens outside a Mission liquor store allegedly threw things at a homeless man; police say the youths present an ‘ongoing issue’ [Mission Record] / Abbotsford police arrested teens who were threatening people with BB guns over the weekend [Abbotsford News]

🎮 UFV will host an international competition for game developers later this month; teams will have 48 hours to create a video or board game [Abbotsford News]

📫 Abbotsford police are looking for a pickup driver who was seen stealing mailboxes on Saturday [Fraser Valley Today]

🛠 Several plumbing companies teamed up to help repair a Langley cancer patient’s flooded home [Langley Advance Times]

🎭 The Chilliwack Players Guild donated $10,000 for upgrades to the Chilliwack Cultural Centre [Fraser Valley Today]

📜 A new community group is aiming to preserve and digitize Bradner’s history [Abbotsford News]

🐈 Two kittens were rescued from a tree near Seabird Island last Wednesday [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

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The Agenda

Property tax rate increase coming before Hope council

The District of Hope is eyeing a 3.64% property tax rate increase for next year.

The figure, first discussed at a committee of the whole meeting in November, is higher than the roughly 3% tax bump staff originally budgeted. An increase in fire protective services, sewer fees, and contracted public works—which has risen in the past three years—are behind the bump, according to a draft of the district’s 2025-2029 financial plan.

The district also increased maintenance for wood carvings around town, which was one of the many factors behind the increase.

Some contracted work was reduced in an attempt to offset the increase. Rather than using a contractor, the district will now use staff to collect curbside waste in the downtown core.

The new financial plan is going before the district again tonight. The committee of the whole and regular council meeting are scheduled for 7pm.

You can read our story about how tax rate increases and housing assessments interact here.

-Josh Kozelj, Local Journalism Initiative

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🗓 Things to do

Religion conference: The 18th annual World Religions Conference comes to Abbotsford today starting at 6:30pm. The conference will discuss the relevance of religion in modern life, and include Islamic, Buddhist, Mormon, Anglican, Sikh, Baha'i, and Hindu speakers. Details and registration online.

Seniors’ meeting: Langley Seniors in Action hosts their monthly hub meeting on Wednesday at 20605-51B Ave. This month's guest speaker will be Dan Collins from Inclusion Langley. For details, email [email protected].

Trivia night: Sidekick Brewing in Chilliwack hosts trivia nights each Monday from 6:30 to 8:30pm. The winners of each round get a free beer. Details online.

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