Councillors in Gibsons are hoping to wrap up budget debates at their regular committee meeting April 4.
They’ve already settled the water, sewer and garbage rates for 2017 in order to meet the April 1 deadline for the beginning of the new fiscal year. Garbage collection fees will stay the same. Water and sewer rates will go up, but the special levy of $75 to help cover the costs of dealing with the E. coli contamination that forced a boil water advisory in 2014 is being dropped.
The proposed increase in the regular parcel tax for water is two per cent, which would bring it to $202. No change is planned in the “bulk water facility charge” of $21.50, which pays for a water supply contract with the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD). User fee increases include five per cent for the residential fixed portion and four per cent for the variable portion. Both the parcel tax and user fee for sewer are going up by six per cent.
At a special committee meeting on Tuesday, council reviewed some broad topics as well as the impact to Gibsons ratepayers of the recently finalized SCRD budget.
The typical residential property in Gibsons is now valued at $483,454, an increase of nearly 24 per cent since last year. The increase in assessment alone accounts for almost seven per cent of the 13.37 per cent bump in the SCRD portion of tax bills in the town.
Coun. Jeremy Valeriote, who represents Gibsons at the SCRD, said the increase works out to about $85 for that typical property. “On behalf of council I looked for extras that could potentially be deferred,” he said. “Most of this was pretty straightforward asset management. There weren’t a lot of debatable [increases].”
Council also heard an update on the road chipsealing program during the review of the preliminary five-year capital projects plan. The chipsealing program was approved as part of the 2016 budget, for Davis Road, parts of Hillcrest Road, Maplewood Lane, Martin Road, Mountainview Drive, Seacot Way, and a section of Stewart Road.
“I guess it would be an understatement to say all of us – council, staff – are as disappointed as the residents with how its gone up to this point,” said Mayor Wayne Rowe of the $250,000 project.
Director of engineering Dave Newman told councillors that timing and bad luck with the weather contributed to the initial problems, but recent inspections with the contractor confirmed the road surfaces are now settling. He also said the contractor will be dealing with defects later this spring. Newman estimates the savings by choosing chipseal over traditional asphalt at around $500,000.
A more detailed capital projects plan will come forward at the April 4 meeting.
Another potentially large expenditure is funding for tourism and economic development. Coun. Silas White called sorting out how to coordinate funding to Sunshine Coast Tourism (SCT), the Gibsons Chamber of Commerce and the Sunshine Coast Regional Economic Development Organization (SCREDO), which have overlapping mandates, a “can of worms.”
Chief administrative officer Emanuel Machado pointed out that this is still a transition period, and that it’s important that the work goes on. “The reality on the ground is that we have a whole lot of interest in terms of businesses that want to invest in Gibsons and people who want to invest in Gibsons, and those folks either call here [Town Hall] or call the Chamber … At this point, outside of the Chamber or myself, there’s no one else to answer that call.”
The Chamber of Com-merce has requested special one-time funding of $20,000 to help establish a new visitor information centre as part of an expanded office at Sunnycrest Mall on top of the contract fees it already gets for running the existing visitor information centre and economic development services (which totalled about $54,000 in 2016).
Gibsons’ share of the annual funding for SCREDO amounts to about $40,500.
The Town also contributes about $8,000 to the money Sunshine Coast Tourism gets from local governments.
“I think what’s clear is that there’s going to be an appetite for a change in how the services are provided, but it’s probably not realistic for a full change this year,” Rowe said.
Council also discussed the idea of establishing a dedicated communications budget.
Coun. Charlene SanJenko has spoken out frequently on the need for better communication between the Town and residents. “I think this year with a couple of things that have come up with us around our chipsealing, and around Parkland, and all these different experiences and projects that we’re having – it just keeps highlighting for me the importance of communication,” she said.
One of the proposals expected to come forward at the next budget meeting on April 4, along with details on capital spending and general government services, is the creation of a staff position to handle communications.
