Following 11 hours of meetings, how exactly Round 2 budget discussions will affect the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD)’s 2021 budget is yet to be seen.
SCRD staff were unable to provide Coast Reporter with an estimated update to proposed tax increases, impacts to the operating budget and the capital budget, and how many projects are going forward following the March 4 and 5 meetings. An updated estimate coming out of Round 2 is expected to be released next week, following the regular board meeting on March 11.
Round 1 of the budget discussions this year ended with an estimated property tax increase of between 17.43 and 23.44 per cent in rural areas.
During Round 2, the SCRD’s special corporate and administrative services committee moved to go ahead with many proposed projects, including carry-forwards from 2020 and new projects.
The board approved the carry-forward list of approximately 110 projects to be included in the 2021 budget. Carry-forward projects were approved last year, but still have work remaining. They bring over any unused funding, and don’t impact this year’s taxation or finances.
Gibsons director Bill Beamish asked if the SCRD has the capacity to take on all the carry-over projects as well as new projects, or if 2021 should be seen as an extension of the year 2020.
“It would be nice to have a year where we actually catch up and do all the things we said we were going to do,” Beamish said, adding that work on many of last year’s projects has not begun yet.
In response, chief administrative officer Dean McKinley said that some of the projects will happen in 2021, while others are multi-year projects, and staff will work to move as many projects forward as possible.
Water
In a verbal update to the board, general manager of infrastructure services Remko Rosenboom said the Water Supply Advisory Committee (WASAC) gave support to the water-related budget proposals referred from Round 1.
The feasibility studies for long-term water supply sources for both the North Pender Harbour Water Service and South Pender Harbour Water Service were deferred to 2022.
With Regional Water Service, the identified projects all – except the feasibility study for long-term surface water supply sources – got the go ahead to be incorporated in the 2021 budget. The feasibility study, much like those for the Pender Harbour services, was deferred to the following year.
New projects going forward included the repairs and speculated total replacement of the Sechelt Aquatic Centre fire sprinkler system.
Waste
Waste discussions took up hours of the meetings. After much discussion about whether the Pender Harbour Transfer Station food waste drop-off program should be funded through tipping fees or taxation, committee chair Darnelda Siegers called the long discussion “a little painful.” Directors raised concerns that tipping fees would remove incentive to take part in the program. Elphinstone director Donna McMahon said charging people to “do the right thing” would be a barrier.
The board passed a motion to implement the program on July 1, and fund it through taxation under Regional Solid Waste. Beamish, Sechelt director Alton Toth and West Howe Sound director Mark Hiltz were opposed. But on day two of Round 2, the Pender Harbour Transfer Station food waste drop-off program funded through tipping fees was removed from the 2021 draft financial plan. Staff will report on funding models for food waste later in the year, and include potential for community partnerships.
What’s next
While last year’s budget originally included a substantial tax increase, it was ultimately curtailed as a result of the pandemic. Initially, the SCRD’s 2020 budget was approved at $73 million, with the overall average property tax going up 12.9 per cent. But just weeks after its adoption, last year’s budget increase was cut by nearly two thirds, coming in at an average 4.7 per cent increase to property tax.
The 2021 SCRD budget is expected to be adopted on March 25.
