By Barb Brouwer
Contributor
At the Committee of the Whole meeting of Jan. 17, Columbia Shuswap Regional District directors asked the finance department to reduce the proposed 10.77 per cent tax increase in the 2024 budget.
Finance general manager Jodi Pierce presented the board with a draft 1 budget with projected spending totalling $80,250,407, which is up from $59.8 million in 2023. Most of the increase in the budget was in the parks and recreation portfolio, which went from $10.6 million in 2023 to $29.7 million in 2024.
While $20 million is included for the 2024 construction costs of a new aquatic centre in Golden, Pierce said the project is dependent upon receipt of $13.5 million from the federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program. If the grant is not successful, the project will be put on hold until other grant funding is available.
The Environmental Health Services budget goes from $8.3 million in 2023 to $9.6 million this year, a 13.5 per cent increase, due in part to a December board decision to add to landfill closure reserves, which are insufficient.
The Draft 1 budget includes the addition of two full-time equivalent positions, one for communications assistant and a second for IT succession planning. The succession planning position has been dropped from the budget at the direction of staff.
The Economic Development and Tourism portfolio increases by 10.7 per cent in the 2024 budget, from $1.1 million in 2023 to $1.3 million. But the board directed Pierce to reduce the proposed $80,000 increase in taxation to approximately $40,000.
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Pierce said the board was not specific in their direction to reduce the tax increase for the Rail Trail budget from $417,000 in 2024 which is a 67 per cent increase in taxation, or approximately $5 to the average residential Salmon Arm taxpayer. As well, she pointed out the forecasted 2024 requisition was $370,000, included in last year’s five-year financial plan. She said she is talking with rail trail partners to see what can be done to try to keep the increase limited to the forecasted amount.
Prior to Pierce’s presentation, managers shared their departmental mandates and 2024 work plan.
Development services manager Gerald Christie provided a long list of the goals his staff are working on this year. They include several projects continuing from 2023, as well as new projects for 2024. Due to new provincial legislation, staff will be required to bring forward numerous bylaw amendments as well as policy and procedural changes.
“Notwithstanding wildfire recovery and rebuilding needs, staff priority also continues to be to process all CSRD applications as efficiently as possible,” Christie said. “Given existing projects, new projects created by recent provincial legislation, staff vacancies for part of the year, and staff supporting recovery and rebuilding efforts in the North Shuswap means that staff will be primarily focused on meeting provincial mandates, wildfire recovery and completing existing projects prior to taking-on any new significant projects.”
Noxious weed and milfoil are on the to-do list in Environmental and Utility Services, reported acting manager Ben Van Nostrand. As well, updated Liquid Waste Management Plans (LWMP), for Electoral Area F, Seymour Arm, Electoral Area C/G, and Electoral Area E, will be submitted to the Ministry of Environment for approval.
“At the heart of the updated LWMP is a proposal to introduce a rebate program to support a Septic Smart awareness campaign,” Van Nostrand said. “The CSRD will continue to work with Electoral Area directors to explore and advance community sewer servicing where there is community support, public/private partnerships, grant funding and ministerial approvals warranted to pursue services.”
The groundwater monitoring program, carried out annually to determine the impacts from on-site sewage disposal systems on the groundwater, will continue. Data generated from successive years of groundwater monitoring continues to be evaluated as part of the process for assessing environmental impacts and the need for community wastewater systems.
Among its many roles, the Community and Protective Service (CPS) Department’s mandate and responsibilities are to plan, manage and operate parks, facilities, emergency management, emergency communications, and fire departments.
“The 2023 Bush Creek East Wildfire recovery will continue to be a large priority throughout many CSRD departments,” said acting manager Derek Sutherland. “The staff time and financial resources dedicated to the recovery effort has been, and will continue to be substantial, and likely will continue for three to five years.”
Sutherland told directors structure loss and damage may be the easiest statistic to point to, but there are innumerable other aspects of recovery that must be considered.
“Ensuring the community is supported through this recovery is the priority for the SEP staff but it is also a priority for staff in other departments including Parks, Finance, Solid Waste, Tourism and Development Services.”
Another department with a long slate of goals is Corporate Services, which includes communications, record keeping, reception, tourism, IT support and GIS technology.
On this year’s work plan is the establishment of the Regional Accessibility Advisory Committee in collaboration with the member municipalities, upgrading of the CSRD head office phone system and a move to cloud based applications, which negates the need for on-premise servers and local IT support to maintain them.
Financial Services Department general manager Jodi Pierce is in charge of a complex, dynamic department that is integral to every other department within the regional district. The finance team provides financial expertise, information and guidance, advice and support on operational matters internally and externally.
“The department develops and implements financial controls and financial policies which safeguard regional district assets (i.e. the collection and expenditure of funds) and prevent fraud and error,” noted Pierce in her report.
A second Budget Workshop will take place on Feb. 14 and is open to the public and can also be accessed by Zoom after registering online at csrd.bc.ca. The entire contents of the Draft 1 Budget and departmental mandates and work plans are also available online.