The last scheduled meeting of 2024 for the Sunshine Coast Regional District board was held Dec. 12 and saw elected officials go from first reading to adoption on one new bylaw and amendments to 10 others.
Revenue anticipation borrowing limit increases
The new bylaw was for revenue anticipation borrowing for 2025. At the meeting, acting chief administrative and chief financial officer Tina Perreault explained that a similar bylaw is adopted in the later months of each year. It allows the region to borrow funds to pay its operating expenses in the first half of the following year, the period before it receives its share of property taxes from the province and the participating municipal areas.
For 2025, the bylaw, which passed unopposed, will allow the region to borrow up to $20 million. According to a staff report, the borrowing limit approved for 2024 and 2023 was $15 million. In 2023, $9.95 million was used and this year spending of borrowed funds for this purpose totalled $13.08 million.
Amendments mean high rates and fees
Following committee debate and board endorsement at its Nov. 28 meeting, the amending bylaws, all for rate and fee changes passed with no votes cast in opposition.
Five of the amending bylaws related to 2025 utility rates for water and wastewater functions. Another two were to adjust rates and fees for solid waste services.
The rates for some services regulated in the planning, building and plumbing bylaws were also adjusted. Only in the case of changes to the building bylaw was there discussion at the meeting. Roberts Creek area director Kelly Backs, repeated concerns he had raised at committee about the building permit fee for projects with a value of $1,000 or less being raised to $150, which he called “a bit onerous." Pender Harbour area director Leonard Lee pointed out that even with lower-value projects, a building official must pay a site visit and argued that the cost for the permit should cover that, which Backs agreed with.
Another building bylaw fee change that drew the attention of Halfmoon Bay area director Justine Gabias was for the removal of a Notice on Title (NOT), which will rise to $1,000 from $100 in the new fee schedule. It was West Howe Sound area director Kate Stamford who reminded her colleagues of the amount of staff time that is invested to bring reports regarding such notices before the board. She stated those reports were “like step 17” of the process. Stamford’s view, which was supported by the board, was that the fee was commensurate with the amount of staff time involved in the NOT process.
Gabias said that she “had been quite willing” to vote in favour of putting NOT on properties deemed to be in violation of regional bylaws in the past when the fee was lower “given it was easy and not expensive to remove (the NOT).
"Now I will be looking at them differently," she said.
