Water
Sechelt council has voted to support the Town of Gibsons’ push for a region-wide governance structure for water and groundwater management.
Gibsons put forward the idea of joint governance at the same time as it announced it was going to try to move the areas of the town served by SCRD water onto its municipal system. It also comes as the SCRD is moving forward with plans for exploratory drilling for new groundwater sources in areas that include a site on the edges of the Gibsons Aquifer, which the Town wants put on hold until joint management is in place.
The motion of support was in response to a letter from Gibsons Mayor Wayne Rowe that said, in part, “Given significant water management challenges, complexities of land use, interests and rights holders in our region, we think future-proofing the Sunshine Coast’s social, ecological and economic prosperity requires closely examining our options for both integrated watershed management planning and watershed governance.”
Budget
Sechelt councillors have passed the 2018 budget and tax rates bylaws. Both got unanimous approval at the May 2 regular council meeting.
Mayor Bruce Milne described it as “a big budget, but one that does put us toward a sustainable financial future.”
The budget includes a 5.78 per cent overall tax increase with three per cent earmarked for infrastructure renewal and 2.78 per cent to cover increases in the operating budget.
There was no change in sewer or water fees for 2018, after both took a big jump in 2017.
Library
Despite requests, the Sechelt Public Library did not receive any significant new funding in the budget, but Milne suggested at the May 2 meeting that the run-up to the municipal election offers an opportunity to talk about how the library is funded.
“I think that over the next few months we need to have a discussion in the community that will allow us to think through how best to support the library in its current challenges for resources and space,” he said. “Perhaps if we have the right discussion, whoever’s elected in October will have the right mandate to actually act on that going forward.”
Milne made the comments while talking about attending a library board meeting during his report to council. He also said he thinks the discussion should be on a “regional basis” because library users come from all over the Coast.
The memorandum of understanding between Sechelt, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), and the Sechelt Indian Government District on funding the Sechelt Library expires this year.
– Sean Eckford
