Gibsons adopted its 2024 budget on May 7. It includes an overall tax increase of eight per cent (five per cent for future policing costs and three per cent to support general operations). This works out to a $103.24 increase for the average residential property valued at $920,560.
Water and sewer rates are each rising five per cent and the garbage and organics fee is rising $38.
Long term debt
The $3.3 million borrowed to fund the Zone 3 aquifer expansion and watermain replacements will be locked into long-term debt for a 25-year term.
The project to connect upper Gibsons into the Gibsons aquifer (previously much of upper Gibsons was on regional district water supply) was approved in 2019 through an alternative approval process. The project was completed in 2023 with Oceanmount Boulevard’s Well 6 activation.
Now that the project is complete, staff asked council to approve locking in the long-term debt.
As of April, the Municipal Finance Authority’s 10-year loan indicative rate is 4.67 per cent, but the loan won’t be locked in until the municipal lender’s October intake.
The first interest payment would be due next April and is estimated at $155,470, with a combined principal and interest payment of $83,220 in October 2025. This is factored into the 2024 budget and once the amounts are confirmed, will be included in the 2025 budget.
At the time of the project, the town noted that the loan payments would be offset by the tens of thousands saved in no longer buying bulk water from the SCRD.
This is factored into the 2024 budget and once the amounts are confirmed, will be included in the 2025 budget.
‘Truly the star of AVICC’
Gibsons student councillor Cael Read was “truly the star” of a local government conference in Victoria last month, said Mayor Silas White in his council report.
The Grade 12 student attended the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) conference along with other Sunshine Coast local government representatives and had the opportunity to address the entire assembly.
Read made “brilliant use” of his time on stage, said White, “talking about the importance of youth engagement to furthering democracy, and especially to actually listening to youth, as we have at the Town of Gibsons and Sunshine Coast regarding the free youth transit initiative.”
Sunshine Coast Regional District Sechelt director Alton Toth concurred. “He had their complete attention, and was well spoken, and funny, and he’s going places for sure,” he said in a written report to that local government.
At the Gibsons council meeting, Read said it was an “amazing opportunity” (and also mentioned he got to meet with the Minister of Transportation).
“It was good to highlight just the success of having a program like this on the Coast,” said Read, who is also the student trustee for School District 46. He noted that he’s surprised when he talks to people in other communities and they don’t have opportunities such as these. “I hope that other communities can take inspiration from it, because it is so beneficial to have youth be involved.”
At the conference, the SCRD-led motion that “UBCM request the Province to expand the fare-free transit program for youth in grade 12 and under,” was endorsed.
Watershed protection
During their trip to Victoria for AVICC, White and chief administrative officer Emmanuel Machado met with Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship representatives about watershed protection and “were reminded how local collaboration with Indigenous rightsholders will be integral to making any progress on water and watershed protection,” said the mayor’s report. The two met with a consultant about watershed governance. “Indigenous coleadership is key, and we have requests to both the shíshálh and Squamish Nations for meetings on how we can work together to build a local watershed governance model similar to what exists in the Cowichan region,” said the report.
BC Ferries
White and SCRD Area F director Kate Louise Stamford met with the BC Ferries CEO last month, according to the mayor's report. Among the tidbits shared was that reservations are capped at 40 to 45 per cent of ship capacity per run and that BC Ferries is working on expanding its Horseshoe Bay lease in part addressing the lack of public washrooms.
