To move ahead with the water meter installations in the District of Sechelt and shíshálh Nation, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) will need the go-ahead from electors via an alternative approval process (AAP). Details on the dates of the AAP are to come.
Staff have budgeted $5,956,111 for the third phase of the installation project, which directors voted to pay for through a long-term loan. It was originally to be funded by a Gas Tax Strategic Priorities (SPF) Grant, a provincial funding mechanism for large municipal infrastructure projects, but the application was rejected as directors and staff were planning the 2018 budget.
Staff recommended moving ahead with the project, funding it instead with a long-term loan paid back in 20 years or less. At an April 26 board meeting, directors moved a bylaw to authorize the loan, ahead to the third reading, triggering the AAP.
Options that wouldn’t have required an AAP were short-term financing and using reserves but staff recommended against them, since they are financially riskier. For example, a short-term debt would mean larger payments to service the debt and less money in reserves.
AAPs are used to gauge public interest in bylaws authorizing long-term loans. Local governments must provide two public notices of the bylaw, giving electors 30 days to tell the government via response forms whether they think the matter is significant enough to require a referendum. If more than 10 per cent of electors request a referendum, the government is obligated to hold one to authorize the loan.
