Editor:
It doesn’t work: it never has and never will. The only long-term remedy for the 50-year lack of SCRD planning for water, waste management and sewage is recognition of the root cause. SCRD directors are chosen separately from eight areas – Gibsons and Sechelt, the Sechelt Nation and the five rural areas from Egmont to Langdale – the classic definition of a long discredited “ward system.”
With one eye on keeping tax rates low in their own area, directors almost invariably conclude, “It’s everyone for himself.” Plan today for future services? Not a priority when just lip service will get me re-elected.
For example, ignore pesky Halfmoon Bay taxpayers mystified by sudden extra annual tax billing of $6,000 for SCRD utilities to fund SCRD liabilities incurred years ago by a thoughtless SCRD board catering to a “growth is good” developer. The same holds true for other subdivisions with long-term SCRD liabilities for replacement left unfunded by past SCRD boards. Maybe yours.
The ultimate remedy was discussed when I was on the SCRD board, decades ago. Simply petition the province to restructure the whole Sunshine Coast as a single municipality with councillors and mayor elected at large by all residents. Eliminate the SCRD board, Gibsons and Sechelt councils and mayors.
I can already hear the screaming echoing in the Pender Harbour fire halls when they hear that Area A should give up its SCRD director. Worse still, the general apoplexy in Gibsons or Sechelt with a suggestion to eliminate local town councils and mayors with their duplication of staff and operating costs.
And all without ever seriously considering property tax savings and long-term benefits of improved property values with efficient and secure water, sewage, and waste utilities in a new, cheaper and more efficient Sunshine Coast Municipality.
It’s time to form a Coast Restructuring Committee to examine the options. Volunteers?
Joe Harrison, Garden Bay
