Donna Tessier is a person who doesn’t like to sit on the sidelines; taking part in five different organizations across Drumheller.
    Her first taste of volunteering came from the Canadian Badlands Passion Play where she served as head usher for five years. Citizens on Patrol (COP) was the next venture and Tessier has now volunteered with the group for at least three years.
    This involvement led to further volunteer work through Big Country Victim Services as a Victim Services advocate around the same time as her start with COP.  
    “We have got to keep this community safer and there is only 12 RCMP,” said Tessier. “They can not be everywhere every minute of the day. We have to be the eyes and ears.”
    She then began dedicating her time to the Drumheller and District Humane Society as a board member at the beginning of 2018.
    “Well, I was working full-time at the [Drumheller Chrysler] Dealership for 15 or 16 years when I decided to cut back. One day we had a bad tragedy at the dealership about three years ago where somebody was killed so they sent Victim Services over,” explained Tessier. “When I was growing up I went through tragedy and hardships and there were no resources for us in those days. Now they have all these wonderful resources so I decided I’m too young to sit at home. I will not sit idle so I applied and I want to give back to the community.”
    Tessier also noticed the Little Church was in need of some tender loving care from the constant traffic of tourists visiting the site. She now cleans the Little Church two to three times a week during the summer months to keep up appearances.
    “I really love it because I think it’s important that we make these beautiful tourist attractions presentable to the tourists,” said Tessier.         “They come a long way and I’ve had tourists thank me for keeping it clean.”
    The active volunteer wants the respect and care maintained for the church to spread across Drumheller to preserve what the valley has to offer and give a positive impression to the town’s worldly visitors.
    “I wish that everybody would maybe adopt or choose one thing to do like pick a weed or weed a little area so if everyone just did one thing this town would be so much more presentable,” she said.
    Tessier noted that she volunteers for a number of reasons including gratification and knowing the positive changes have helped others.
    “What makes it worth it for me is knowing that I made a difference in someone’s life, some animal’s life and making a safer community. I recommend anybody that has a spare moment and they want to get involved in one of their passion’s they will not be disappointed,” said Tessier.

Drumheller residents will see a small jump in their tax bill for 2018 after a year without any increase.

    Drumheller Town Council approved the mill rate bylaw on Monday, April 16. The municipal requisition for its operating budget passed by council is  $8,718766, a three per cent increase over 2017, when there was a zero per cent increase.
    The 2018 education property tax requisition for the Town of Drumheller is sitting at $2,738,682 which equates to an increase of 1.44 per cent over 2017. The 2018 Drumheller and District Seniors Foundation (DDSF) requisition of $540,272.50 represents an increase of 3.8 per cent compared to 2017.
    An analysis of the assessment indicates that on average resident’s assessment values decreased by 0.87 per cent and commercial assessment values decreased by 1.5 per cent.
    Based on these numbers, on average, a residential assessment of $200,000 in 2017 will see an increase of $76.73. Of this, $54.79 will go to the municipal taxes, $17.05 will go towards the education property tax requisition and $4.88 will go towards the DDSF requisition.
    For someone who owns a home assessed at $300,000 will see an increase of $115.09. Of this, $82.19 will go to the municipal requisition, $25.58 to education, and $7.32 to the Drumheller and District Seniors Foundation.
    Councillor Jay Garbutt noted, “We are talking about an increase of less than $10 per month in total taxation to an average property worth $300,000, and only 70 per cent of that is responsible to the municipality.”
    “I think that is a signal to everyone of what we can accomplish together given the scope and depth of services that are provided to us as citizens of the Town of Drumheller.”
    A commercial assessment valued at $500,000 will see an increase of $268.16. $257.61 will go to the municipality, $1.65 towards education, and $12.21 towards the DDSF.
    Residents will be receiving their notice of assessment and bills in the mail within the first week of May. All taxes are due at the end of August.
    The adopted bylaw can be found on the town’s website www.dinosaurvalley.com.
    In order to challenge your taxes, you must challenge the assessed value of your home. There is an application that can be filled out at the Town office.