While the final numbers are still being crunched, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) budget is effectively done, with a slight average tax increase across the Coast.
SCRD directors wrapped up their discussions late Tuesday afternoon after making some big decisions on recreation and community services.
While SCRD treasurer Joan Merrick was still calculating residential tax rates by area at Coast Reporter press time Thursday morning, she did say it appears to be only a small increase, if any.
"At the last calculation of where we are, there's not a lot of change overall from round two. I think we're sitting at about up 0.4 of a per cent," she said.
Merrick cautioned that 0.4 per cent increase does not necessarily mean a 0.4 per cent increase in the SCRD portion of property taxes as residential tax rates are calculated differently and are different from area to area based on what services each area receives.
Decisions on the last two days of budget discussions included what equipment and facilities could be provided to the Gibsons fire department.
Directors from Elphinstone, West Howe Sound and the Town of Gibsons voted to spend $400,000 over five years for a new fire truck and another $50,000 for a new training structure where volunteers can practice manoeuvres used in actual fires and rescues.
In recreation, directors voted to include life cycle assessments for the aging Gibsons pool and Sunshine Coast Arena in Sechelt to determine the condition of the buildings and what maintenance they will need in the future. Directors also voted to acquire one new piece of cardio equipment for the Gibsons and Area Community Centre and a rock-climbing wall for the Sechelt Aquatic Centre. The community centre will also have professional consultants review the arena's acoustics to find how to best baffle sound from the inside.
The youth centre will also get a boost in funding to complement programs already offered there.
Merrick said despite the improvements and maintenance for the facilities, the decisions had little impact on the budget.
"[Directors] were actually able to fund most of what they did out of last year's surplus," she said.
More funds will be used this year for maintaining parks in SCRD jurisdiction as well as including wildfire mitigation, safety improvements, assessments on SCRD halls and extra funding to do some storm clean up.
"Parks probably have been lagging behind in funding for a few years," Merrick said. "They've been so focused on adding parks and new facilities that they haven't been putting as much focus on maintaining what they have. That was the overwhelming theme that came out of this. Let's take a step back and look at preserving the assets we have and what we need to fund those."
The board is expected to vote on finalizing the budget on March 25.
