Editor:
With respect to the Gibsons budget (Coast Reporter, March 29) and with respect for both the author and our director of finance Ian Poole, there is some additional perspective to be added to the otherwise excellent coverage of Gibsons' financial situation.
Around 24 months ago, at a Chamber of Commerce-sponsored meeting with our former mayor, I asked a question about why Gibsons was the sole funding source for the new RCMP station. Since this was going to be a regional station serving the entire south Coast community, why was the Sunshine Coast Regional District not assisting in the funding?
Since the new station would not contain a holding cell, it was, in RCMP jargon, a satellite of the main detachment in Sechelt. Gibsons undertook some very expensive modifications/upgrades to Sunnycrest Road to enhance the servicing of the new station; again, apparently without any financial assistance from the SCRD.
There were no answers forthcoming from our former mayor at either that meeting or subsequent council meetings.
Yes, Ian Poole is correct: the RCMP will reimburse Gibsons for the $2.5M debt incurred to build the station, but only if the Town remains below 5,000 population during the 2016 census. If we do, then the next trigger will be the 2021 census, by which time the debt will be retired.
However, should we surpass 5,000 residents in the 2016 census, we will become responsible/liable for paying 70 per cent of our policing costs, per current provincial policy, and the RCMP reimbursement of that building debt will be drastically reduced.
The question remains: why is the Town carrying all the financial burden without assistance from the regional district, especially since the 2016 census could negatively affect the current financing projections?
Brian K. Sadler, Gibsons
