New Westminster residents will soon be able to return library books and pay bills at more city facilities.
While residents can currently pay tax and utility payments at city hall and the Queensborough Community Centre, before too long those services will also be offered at Centennial Community Centre and Century House. Residents will also be able to return books from the New Westminster Public Library to Centennial Community Centre and New Westminster City Hall.
“I am very pleased to see this moving forward,” said Coun. Jonathan Cote. “I think residents will enjoy having those options in their neighbourhood.”
Last fall, Cote suggested that the city explore allowing residents to return library books and pay water, sewer and electrical bills, property taxes, parking tickets, and buy garbage tags and dog licences at the front counters of Century House, Centennial Community Centre and Anvil Centre.
He noted the idea was inspired by the process that was already in place at the Queensborough Community Centre.
“New Westminster isn’t geographically a really large community, but we do have our different neighbourhoods,” he said. “People are often going to Canada Games Pool, but they’re not always dropping by city hall. Are there ways to make things a little bit easier for our residents, whether it’s renewing a dog licence, or paying for property taxes and things like that?”
Council approved Cote’s motion to have staff explore the issue further. On March 3, council received a staff report about the issue. Staff determined that Century House and Centennial Community Centre were feasible locations for expanded services, but Anvil Centre is not as it’s just getting its core operations set up.
The report said the startup costs of introducing the payment services at Centennial Community Centre and Century House is about $10,440, which includes $3,400 in operating expenses and $7,000 for capital equipment. The ongoing financial impact will be $3,000 to $5,000, which includes ongoing training of auxiliary personnel and the transportation costs associated with using a secure armored car service to transport bank deposits.
Coun. Betty McIntosh suggested staff should review the initiative after one year to see how it’s being embraced.
Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks, culture and recreation, said the city’s goal is to be up and running for the peak period of property tax payment in late June and early July.
“Our ability to hit this target date is largely contingent upon the availability of the additional computer hardware and software required for these new services, and the timeline over which the city’s information technology department can install the equipment,” he said in an email.
