In anticipation of a tough 2010 budget, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) is cutting some programs and laying off staff now.
The total cuts will result in about $620,000 in savings from the operating budget.
"We tried to make sure that we were fair and spread [the cuts] out over the whole organization and that we would impact the public as little as possible," said SCRD board chair Donna Shugar. "We looked at what we considered core services on a continuum of absolute essential services like fire departments on down to much softer programs that, while are very important to the quality of life on the Sunshine Coast, are not necessarily core services that are essential to life."
The largest of the cuts is the elimination of all SCRD recreation programs that take place outside of the SCRD's five main recreation facilities, Gibsons and Area Community Centre (GACC), Sechelt Aquatic Facility (SAF), Sunshine Coast Arena in Sechelt, Gibsons Pool and Dakota Ridge. Included in those programs are yoga and meditation classes at locations like the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt.
The cuts save about $500,000 from the SCRD's operating budget. Chief administrative officer John France said the SCRD has been offering those programs since before the $22-million construction of the GACC and SAF and it made sense to shift recreation programs into recreation facilities.
Operating hours at both the Pender Harbour and Sechelt landfills will be reduced by four hours a week. France said staff will recommend which specific hours will be reduced based on what are typically the slowest times for garbage drop-off.
He added that with the downturn in the economy, the landfills have experienced less demand, especially in construction waste.
The SCRD's Pender Harbour satellite office will go back to its pre-2009 service levels, eliminating on-site building inspection and planning administration.
Shugar said the program was intended only as a pilot and it proved to be of little use.
"We ran it for over a year and it wasn't being well used, so that's been cut back to what it was before," she said.
After Nov. 30, Pender Harbour residents will have to visit or call the SCRD's Field Road office for those services.
Grants for libraries and museums will also be frozen at their 2009 levels and the entire grant-in-aid budget has been cut by 20 per cent, meaning less money can be donated to community groups.
The cuts are resulting in the layoffs of about eight full-time equivalent staff positions, though France said by reducing some staff hours, leaving current open positions vacant and shifting some employees to other departments, only four or five people will actually lose their jobs, one of whom is in a management position. France said the layoffs represent about four per cent of the total SCRD workforce.
Staff hours are being lost in the planning department, which Shugar said will mean longer periods of time to conduct official community plan reviews and other planning processes.
And, along with the cuts, comes a new approach to the budget for 2010. After the first round of 2009 budget talks, residents across the Coast were looking at an average 27 per cent tax increase in the SCRD portion of their taxes. Through trimming over the next two rounds, the board was able to reduce the average increase to about 13 per cent - still high for many homeowners.
For 2010, the board intends to start with a "bare bones" budget that aims at a four per cent maximum average tax increase and work from there, evaluating programs on a case-by-case basis.
"2009 was a really difficult budget. It was difficult for the municipalities. It was difficult for some of our constituents, especially those on fixed incomes," Shugar said. "We want to go into it with a very low, if any, increase."
Shugar acknowledged how hard it was for the board to make the cuts over the course of numerous meetings in the last few months, describing the decisions as "excruciating."
"No matter how you do it it's painful for people, and we feel that. We want people to know it wasn't taken lightly," she said. "We wanted to be compassionate, but we also need to be compassionate to our constituents. Nobody likes to do this, but it's something we felt we needed to do at this time."
France offered praise for the high level of service and expertise recreation staff have shown over the years.
2010 budget discussions begin in January.
