With a glimpse of proposed 2025 property tax increases topping out at 11 per cent should every identified project get the nod, Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors were quick to start chopping.
In a special finance committee meeting on Oct. 28, directors endorsed dropping potential projects that staff listed as “not recommended” before Round 1 2025 budget discussions convene Nov. 25.
They also took further cost-cutting steps, recommending two already approved but not advanced projects be abandoned and pushing the start of another, a study on a boundary expansion for the Gibsons and Area Fire Department, to 2027. Dropped from upcoming budget consideration were an SCRD building upgrade proposed by the Pender Harbour Living Heritage Society and a study on long-term surface water sources.
The committee was in agreement with 10 budget asks identified as "mandatory" in the staff report. It made a recommendation to add $1.4 million worth of those projects into the budget. Included are required upgrades for the Chapman water system, Soames Creek compliance monitoring and items related to employee health, safety and benefits.
In addition, the project funding requests from 13 of 19 community partners were recommended, totalling just over $351,000. In those cases, the projects and budget asks were consistent with those approved for 2024. For the remaining applicants for community partnerships, there were either larger changes to the initiatives or ask amounts and those partners will be invited to brief the committee on their proposals at the Round 1 budget meeting.
Committee recommendations require board endorsement to be enshrined in the budget. If endorsed, the committee recommended cuts could drop the potential tax increase from double-digits to between 6 and 8 per cent, with that number subject to further trims during the upcoming budget debates. Tax rates, which will vary among the electoral areas, are to be set after Feb. 13, when the next financial plan bylaw is scheduled to be adopted and property assessment role values are finalized.
2024 project completions lagging
Recommending a moderated approach on the future of 154 projects in the 2024 budget, of which only 20 were marked as complete in the report, acting chief administrative officer Tina Perreault stated staff “recognize our ability to deliver [on all projects] is not there."
To drive home that reality was a new project progress report format that showed eight 2024 projects at between 99 and 80 percent complete. Forty-four of this year’s projects are between 79 and 50 per cent done and 63 are started but less than halfway to the finish line. Not yet out of the starting blocks are 19 initiatives and in that category 10 of those are considered by staff to be “on hold."
“We have too much on the go, probably more than any other local government,” Perreault commented in her presentation.
There appeared to be general acceptance of Perreault's observation at the committee table. Gibsons area director Silas White summed up his views on the matter, stating, “We are overloaded and we need to start planning things out over a longer time and staff are doing that. I think we should honour and respect that we are overloaded. We know this and the public knows this.”
But project cuts and delays did create concerns for at least one director. “Another issue we have is that some of these projects get deferred and they can get infinitely deferred,” was an observation voiced by Area E director Donna McMahon. She agreed with the need to “look at longer terms” for delivery on some promised initiatives to give the constituents “some certainty that we will eventually get there, especially with public-facing services."
Budget and staffing levels projected to rise
Last year’s operational budget was approximately $64 million and the capital spending plan came in at around $50 million. “The budget for 2025 is expected to exceed 2024,” the report stated. Information and debate on new projects is to come out at November's Round 1 meetings.
That document also detailed that between 2021 and 2024, the staff complement at the regional district expanded by about 12 per cent, starting at 233.5 and growing to just under 260 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. During her presentation at the meeting, Perreault noted that an increase in personnel of about four FTE is being sought for 2025, but that due to completion of certain projects, the staffing count is projected to go down in 2027.
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