The Thompson-Nicola Regional District Board of Directors is intensifying its call for the provincial government to delay proposed changes to how pipelines are assessed for taxation, saying newly analyzed data shows the impact on residents and businesses would be far greater than first anticipated.
In a second letter sent to the Ministry of Finance on December 12, the Board formally requested that BC Assessment’s proposed re-valuation of pipelines be postponed until local governments are fully consulted and given time to plan. The request follows an earlier letter sent on October 23, when only preliminary information was available.
According to TNRD Board Chair Barbara Roden, the urgency stems from a deeper review of the numbers.
“When we first got the information, everyone was caught off guard,” Roden said. “There had been no consultation. We had no idea this was coming. Now that we’ve had a chance to dig into the implications, it’s much worse than we thought it was going to be.”
Updated figures show the proposed reassessment would reduce taxation collected from the Utility Property Class by approximately $1.3 million annually beginning in 2026, with that shortfall redistributed to other property classes—primarily residential and business.
If implemented as proposed, the changes would shift 3.3 per cent of the TNRD’s 2026 tax requisition and 1.7 per cent of the Thompson Regional Hospital District’s (TRHD) requisition away from pipeline companies. The TNRD estimates this would result in an additional $827,000 in taxes for residential property owners and $321,000 for business property owners across the region each year.
The changes are scheduled to take effect January 1, 2026, leaving local governments little time to adjust budgets or develop mitigation strategies.
“That’s another reason we’re asking the province to put the brakes on this,” Roden said. “We’ve had very little time not only to understand the full impact, but to figure out how we can lessen the burden on residents and businesses. A one-year postponement would give everyone time to sit down and figure out a better way forward.”
The TNRD notes the Utility Property Class is a major contributor to regional taxation, accounting for 21.8 per cent of the TNRD’s 2026 requisition and 10.8 per cent of the TRHD’s requisition prior to the proposed changes. The Board argues that a sudden reduction of that magnitude unfairly shifts costs onto other taxpayers during a period of ongoing economic uncertainty.
Roden said the impacts would be especially severe in smaller communities. In Little Fort, for example, the loss of pipeline assessment revenue could result in residential tax increases of 28 to 28.5 per cent to fund basic services such as fire protection and a community hall.
“These are real-world impacts on real people,” Roden said. “People are already struggling, and this would be a huge blow to communities across the TNRD and throughout the province.”
The issue is not unique to the Thompson-Nicola region. Roden said other municipalities and regional districts are also raising concerns, and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) has taken up the issue with the province.
BC Assessment has indicated it plans to review other large-scale utility properties, including railways, which could result in higher assessed values in other parts of the Utilities tax class and potentially offset some of the negative impacts. Given that broader review, the TNRD is asking that pipeline valuation changes be implemented at the same time, rather than in isolation.
“We’re saying, let’s wait until all of this is looked at,” Roden said. “Maybe it evens out in the wash, but we don’t know that yet.”
Roden, along with TNRD CAO Scott Hildebrand and external relations staff, raised the issue directly with Premier David Eby during a meeting in Victoria in late November. While the province acknowledged the concerns, no commitment has yet been made to delay the changes.
In the meantime, the uncertainty is already affecting budget planning.
“We’ve had to adjust our budget assuming this revenue loss will happen,” Roden said. “That uncertainty is causing a lot of anxiety at a time when that’s the last thing local governments and residents need.”
The TNRD Board is continuing to press the province for a postponement, emphasizing that local governments were not consulted during a valuation review process that has reportedly been underway for nearly a decade.
“Local governments need to be at the table,” Roden said. “We’re the ones who have to deal with the real-world impacts, and our residents deserve to have their voices heard.”
