D’Arcy/ Devine & Birkenhead Lake Refuse Disposal Services – proposed bylaw amendment
The D’Arcy/ Devine & Birkenhead Lake Refuse Disposal Services provides solid waste collection and disposal for residents and businesses in Devine, D’Arcy, Anderson Lake, and Birkenhead Lake. The Devine Transfer Station accepts household waste, recyclables, scrap metal and operates the reuse shed.
What’s happening?
The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) is proposing changes to how the refuse disposal service is funded for the communities of D’Arcy/ Devine and Birkenhead Lake Estates (Electoral Area C).
Why are changes needed?
The current funding limits are no longer sufficient to sustain the service. Updates to the service establishment bylaws are needed to ensure long-term viability, fairness, and financial sustainability.
What’s changing?
Switching from parcel tax to property value tax
Currently, D’Arcy, Devine pays a flat parcel tax—every property pays the same amount, regardless of size, value, or usage. While both parcel taxes and property value taxes are permitted under the existing bylaw, the SLRD is proposing a switch to a property value tax, which is based on the assessed value of your home and land.
What does this mean for you?
Fairness amongst taxpayers: Higher-value properties typically generate more waste and have a greater ability to pay. This change ensures contributions are more proportional to property value.
Supports long-term sustainability: As costs rise, a value-based tax system helps maintain the service without relying on limited grant funding.
Increasing the maximum requisition limit
The SLRD is proposing to increase the maximum amount that can be collected for the service to $125,000 across both communities.
| Important: This is not an increase in the actual amount of taxes collected each year—it simply sets the upper available limit. The actual taxation requisition amounts will be determined annually through the SLRD’s budget process. |
Currently, the service is subsidized by limited annual grant funding. To improve long-term sustainability, the plan is to gradually reduce reliance on these grants by increasing the tax requisition over time. The proposed maximum provides flexibility to adjust the requisition as needed, while ensuring the service can continue to operate effectively.
To improve the financial sustainability of the service, the new requisition limit is proposed to be determined by the greater of a set dollar amount or a rate per $1,000 of assessed value. Including a rate-based limit provides greater flexibility by allowing the maximum requisition to grow in step with increases in service area assessments. This approach helps avoid sudden, large taxation increases in future years and instead supports more gradual growth of the requisition limit alongside rising assessment values. It is a method commonly used in other SLRD services and by local governments across the province.
Aligning residential tax rates
The SLRD is proposing to match the residential tax rate between D’Arcy, Devine and Birkenhead Lake Estates to ensure fairness across the shared service.
The estimated annual taxation amounts for a property with a $300,000 assessment value located in either the D’Arcy, Devine or Birkenhead Lake service area are as follows:
| 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | New Maximum Limit |
| $72.09 | $82.03 | $92.23 | 98.50 | $139.37 |
How can you participate?
We want to hear from you!
A community survey is open from January 19 to February 19, 2026, to gather feedback on the proposed changes.
Your input will help shape the bylaw amendments before they are considered through the Alternative Approval Process (AAP).
The AAP is a formal method of public consent that allows eligible electors to indicate opposition to a proposed initiative. Notice of the AAP will be advertised in the local newspaper and shared on this project page and the SLRD’s Facebook page.