As of the start of Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) round two 2023 budget discussions last week, the anticipated average property tax increase was reduced to just over 12 per cent, chief financial officer Tina Perreault told directors at the meeting.
That number is down from the 15 per cent level reported at the start of the budget process. Perreault indicated that part of the reduction came from proposals to reduce the amount of tax contributions sent into rate stabilization reserves.
SCRD directors dedicated more than six hours to scrutinizing 2023 budget increases and decreases proposed by staff at the March 2 discussions.
With additional initiatives that could affect the 2023 budget up for debate at the March 9 committee of the whole meeting, Perreault said tax rates remain subject to change. The results of round two and any future budget adjustments are to be incorporated into the financial plan that is slated to go to the board for consideration of adoption on March 23.
Most staffing proposals supported
Debate on March 2 was most intense on projects that increased the SCRD’s regular staff complement. Proposals to take the full-time equivalent head count at the SCRD from 236 in 2022 to more than 240 were on the round two agenda.
Gibsons area director Silas White and District of Sechelt representative John Henderson consistently raised their hands in opposition to requests that involved permanent staff increases. Votes in opposition by the two local mayors, combined with "nays" from Area D director Kelly Backs and Sechelt director Alton Toth resulted in two hiring requests from the human resources and finance departments being turned down by committee.
With eight votes at the table and other directors in support, round two saw recommendations to add three new full-time positions. Those were a capital projects implementation coordinator, a parks technician and a cybersecurity analyst.
Also getting the nod at the committee level were increases for part-time and temporary positions in parks operations, purchasing, human resources and legislative services. The committee endorsed a one-year extension of the Fire Smart program, which will see the equivalent of 4.5 full-time positions created on a temporary basis and paid for through a senior government grant.
Directors’ views
“Things are tough out there. Costs are rising for taxpayers everywhere and I don’t feel comfortable in approving any further [staffing] increases,” said Henderson. That was followed by an ask to his fellow directors to issue a “challenge to our staff to get by with what we have." He encouraged a review of work assignments to ensure they are achieving meaningful results and not being done as routine. While stating his view was not a criticism of existing staff, he stressed a need to “deliver the things we need to deliver and not do things that don’t need to be done.”
Backs took a different view, stating it was up to the board to send “less work” staff's way. He stated, “We are asking a lot of staff this year and we need to support them.”
For Area F director Kate Stamford, Backs’ view rang true in relation to staff working in high priority areas such as water and solid waste services as well as for those in the support departments of legislative services, human resources, finance and purchasing.
“Struggle” was a word Area A director Leonard Lee used several times in providing his views on staffing lifts. He said he recognized that staff workloads were high in 2022 but expressed concern that the economy may be headed for a recession and about the level of growth in the organization’s headcount in recent years.
Reflecting back to a round one budget recommendation to fund a staffing review project, Area E director Donna McMahon said she hoped that effort would provide information for the elected officials on priority areas and personnel needs in future years. A staffing request she identified as an “investment” was for the capital projects implementation coordinator. “In the past, the SCRD has not managed projects really well” she stated in support of that proposal.
Area B Director Justine Gabias also spoke out in support of staff’s efforts through the proposed capital projects implementation coordinator position to address the long list of outstanding capital projects from previous years facing the SCRD in 2023.
On that same proposal, White said, “We approved a lot of things at round one and we inherited a lot of increases before round one. I do think, looking at the challenges in this budget, we should be deferring this to the future.”
Toth, who chaired the meeting and managed its 234-page agenda, provided few individual observations.
shíshálh Nation director Philip Paul was not in attendance.
