VICTORIA – British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says she’ll look into a plan by BC Assessment that would cut the taxable value of pipeline and other projects in a move that has angered some local officials.
Director David Laird of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District in southwestern B.C. says it’s “disgusting” the assessment agency hasn’t previously told British Columbians about the strategy that would slash the taxable value of pipelines by $300 million, or more than a quarter, in that district alone.
Bailey says in a statement that she’ll be looking at the proposal in November and any risk of a “big tax burden shifting to residents and small businesses is concerning.”
A BC Assessment official briefed a Thompson-Nicola Regional District board meeting about the plan last week.
Laird told the meeting that the proposal “completely changes” municipal budgets, and would have a “huge impact” on residential owners who could be forced to make up the difference.
Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden, who also chairs the regional district, told the meeting the proposals “are going to impact ordinary people” all over the province.
She said “it is not a good look” for companies operating pipelines to shift costs “onto the backs of ordinary people, many of whom have seen their lives and considerably disrupted by the pipelines going through their communities and their areas.”
Chris Whyte, B.C. Assessment’s manager of specialized costs, told the Oct. 23 meeting that the changes will impact municipal budgets, but could not give exact figures.
Whyte said the new valuation method involved how depreciation and other factors are handled.
While the presentation focused on properties carrying pipelines, he said BC Assessment also “plans on reviewing the regulator rates for rail, telephone, cable, and potentially electrical transmission and distribution.”
Roden said she hoped BC Assessment would seek input from municipalities before getting the policy “rubber-stamped,” after consultations that Whyte said date back to 2016.
Whyte said the changes would have an impact on municipal budgets, but could not give exact figures.
He said B.C. Assessment would share feedback with the Ministry of Finance, while ruling out any additional consultations, with approval to be sought from the attorney general and then Bailey in November.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2025.
