Dear Editor,
Thank you for your outstanding coverage of the recent election, the period running up to the actual election day, and most importantly our civic matters in the couple of years preceding this bellwether election which brought a significant change to the Council table and our Islands Trust representation. (Editor’s note* Most of the preceding years are a credit to the wonderful work of my predecessor Bronwyn Beairsto)
And thank you as well to the outgoing Mayor and Council, who faced possibly the most challenging term since incorporation. Some of us have been outspoken in our desire for solid financial stability at the municipal level, and I want to reiterate the need for residents of Bowen to know that our homes are safe from escalating property tax increases that are increasingly unaffordable for many. If we can't collectively get a hold of the public financial juggernaut, many more of my aging neighbours and people who aren't able to increase their earnings will be forced to sell and leave Bowen Island.
There was a lot of hand wringing at the All-Candidates debate with respect to our lack of money and reserves to pay for all of the demands that will be presented to the new Mayor and Council, but not much discussion of a way forward.
Firstly, as one of the few people who respond to the annual Five-Year Financial Plan call for comments, I have to say that the process and the timing has been really unfortunate in past years. The Province has mandated that the Five-Year Financial Plan must be adopted by Council in May of each year; typical items for public discussion don't even reach the public through the BIM website until well into February of the same year.
And the communications tool for feedback, Citizen Lab, is a really poor way to communicate, not iterative, and not understood by many residents. The annual Public Information sessions seem to be always held in a snowstorm in late February, making attendance difficult and sometimes not even possible for folks that work off-Island.
And for several years the first hour of those two-hour sessions was taken up with standard videos explaining the basis of local property taxation and the mill rate, not a useful exercise for people who already had read through the background materials posted. We know that our assessed values have skyrocketed, but the mill rate stays stubbornly close to the previous year and is never released as part of budget considerations. The impression with rising annual tax income is that there should be lots of money for operations and capital expenditures.
More importantly, I would suggest that greater attention be paid to the line items prepared by each municipal department, with budget and actuals for the previous year reflecting the amount of funds required to continue the operation for the upcoming year and the term of the Five-Year Financial Plan. Several departments are always wildly over the previous year's budgeted amount; others such as the Library and Parks are always within their allocation. Perhaps rewards for good budgeting and cost control could be considered in doling out funds the following year?
I strongly agree with building reserve funds to anticipate ongoing expenses for our burgeoning infrastructure. But the decision to raid existing community-wide funds to pay for repairs to a utility that serves only a small segment of the population was a poor one and will require all of the taxpayers of Bowen to repay those lost funds (and interest) for a number of years.
Community-wide interests should always take priority over special interests. The water utilities are having to stand on their own; so should the sewer utility, in my view, and I hope the new Mayor and Council adhere to this principle.
There has been talk for years of requiring new development to pay the cost of new services. Every other Municipal Council across Metro Vancouver have adopted Development Cost Charge bylaws, as permitted by the Province, to pay for new water, sewer, roads, parkland acquisition and park development that can be linked to new development. We do have a small parkland acquisition DCC plus a Metro Vancouver Parkland DCC but need to do much better.
A few of the developer community have come forward with Community Amenity Contributions, which are gratefully acknowledged by the population. I am looking to Mayor and Council to dig deep into this topic and get on with charging the real costs of adding homes and businesses in our community to the people who are advocating for, and benefitting from, growth on Bowen.
The electors spoke strongly. I wish Mayor and Council well, and hope that our lines of communication improve as we move forward together.
Yours truly,
- Bill Granger
