Proposed Lower Burchell Hill Nature Reserve & your Taxes

We at the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy (ThINC) would like to share some information in response to recent

questions regarding how your taxes would be affected by the proposed acquisition of the Lower Burchell Hill Nature Reserve.

 

As outlined in our project  information available at www.thetisislandnatureconservancy.org, and posted at various locations on the island, once funding is in place and the acquisition has been finalized, the title will be held by the Islands Trust Fund (ITF). This means there will no longer be taxes due on the land. ThINC will establish a management plan in partnership with the community. The plan is for the reserve to be a low impact nature reserve. No camping, no trailer parks.

 

There will be minimal costs for the yearly management of the reserve, and those costs will be covered by ITF which gathers its funds from throughout the Trust area. There will be no tax increase specific to Thetis Island. Average annual costs covered by ITF’s base budget ranges from $300 for monitoring to up to $1.5k -$2k if, for example, fencing was needed or invasive species removed. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at ThINC@thetisisland.net or to contact Jennifer Eliason at 250-405-5191 or jeliason@islandstrust.bc.ca.

Suzanne Sarioglu