Lumby mayor touts village's accomplishments as he seeks fifth term

Photo: Contributed

Lumby's incumbent mayor says he's grateful for the support over his past four terms in office.

Kevin Acton, who's seeking a fifth term in the Oct. 15 municipal election, says the village has accomplished much over the last 14 years.

"Lumby is an amazing and vibrant village that has had its booms and slow periods," Acton says in a campaign post on his Facebook page.

"In 1999, the last of several mills that paid property taxes closed for good. The subsequent mayors and councillors have worked incredibly hard to fight our way back from the huge tax burdens that these closures had left behind.

"In 2008, when I first began as mayor, Lumby was in a tough financial position, with debt from recent infrastructure projects and a diminished tax base. Today, we are debt free and have a very healthy reserve that has been created to fund future infrastructure projects."

Acton says the village recently received a substantial grant to build a sewer treatment plant, which it share of was 20% of the cost.

"There are very few grants that are 100% funding, and if we don’t have money to contribute, we miss out on these very important opportunities," he says.

"Generation of outside sources of income has allowed us to keep property taxes within the confines of inflation and has been a priority of our council."

He says a 1% tax increase in Lumby equates to roughly an $8,800 increase in revenue.

"One way that council helps reduce its risk is to encourage private sector investment," says Acton.

"An excellent example of this is the complex care facilitie in Lumby. In my first term, it was made very clear by Interior Health that Lumby would not receive publicly funded complex care in the near or distant future due to our proximity to Vernon. We had land set aside for this purpose and knew it was a priority for Lumby. To solve the issue, we attracted outside investment and now have a privately run complex care facility adjacent to the village office."

He says being mayor has been "a very rewarding and fulfilling privilege."

Acton is being challenged by newcomer Brad Weston.

Six people are seeking the four seats on council. They are: incumbents Sherry Kineshanko, Lori Mindnich, and Randal ostafichuk, and challengers Geoff Bevan, Henry Ly, and Julie Pilon.