Jasperites wanting to get a closer look at how their property tax is assessed have the opportunity to do so on Friday as the municipality’s assessment firm holds an afternoon open house. Representatives from Accurate Assessment will be available from noon until 6 p.m. in the upstairs boardroom of the Emergency Services Building at 518 Geikie Street. 

Jasper’s 2006 tax rates were finalized in early May, and saw a slight increase of 2.9 per cent. The town maintained the split rate between commerical and residential properties of 6.5 to 1, but the assessed value of property determines the amount of change for each individual property in Jasper. The factors that contribute to that determination are the selling price on residential property, income and the selling price on non-residential property. Jasperites have until June 30 to appeal their tax assessments.

Meanwhile, south of Jasper...

In an effort to prevent further tragedy on the trails, the friends of a Canmore woman killed by a grizzly bear last year have started a trail reporting site for the Bow Valley and Kananaskis area. TrailEx.org functions as a live message board, where registered members can post wildlife sightings, identifying the location and species of the animal encountered, as well as any important additional details. The site’s preamble welcomes postings on bear signs like tracks, scat and diggings, as well as reports of trail closures or aversive conditioning actions like hazing, the presence of bear dogs or the use of bear traps.

The brand-new site was started by Jean McAllister, who was with Isabelle Dube when she was attacked by a grizzly on a trail outside of Canmore in June of last year.

While the site has links to the Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country trail reports, these documents are not updated as regularly as the TrailEx message board. Still, the site administrators advise all those who spot wildlife or warning signs like carrion or diggings to report the location to the appropriate authorities.

There are no immediate plans to expand the TrailEx.org to include areas outside the Canmore-Banff region, meaning that for now, local trail users will continue to rely on updates from Parks Canada to get their latest information on wildlife activity.