Capital Regional District directors have shaved about $400,000 out of the quarter-billion dollar provisional CRD operating budget.
The reduction defers spending for the likes of sewage-treatment management and public consultation over future use of the land-acquisition fund, while preserving beefed-up enforcement of parks regulations, including new rules for commercial dog walkers.
With the cuts, the budget is projected to increase total operational spending by $9 million to about $247 million next year.
A proposal to draw $400,000 from reserves rather than taxes to fund regional growth strategy work in 2018 — twice approved in committee meetings — failed last week on a weighted vote (based on population) at the board meeting.
Saanich directors Colin Plant and Dean Murdock argued it made no sense to pull the funds out of the growth strategy reserve, as staff had indicated it would only mean a larger tax increase next year to replenish the funds.
“This is either pay now or pay later. So I don’t see why we would just simply vote to cut it out now, knowing that we’re going to add it back,” Plant said.
Murdock called the move “completely illogical.”
Directors agreed to cut about $289,000 from a surplus accumulated for liquid-waste-management planning.
A proposal for $100,000 in new spending for parks enforcement survived. The funding will not only be used to educate park users and enforce new regulations surrounding dogs in parks, but will address concerns about cliff jumping and other swimming hazards at Thetis Lake, parks general manager Larisa Hutcheson said.
Directors also approved an additional $60,000 for park-patrol officers for the opening of the Sea to Sea Regional Park.
Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen called the increased funding for park patrols a “nice to have,” not a “must have,” but View Royal Mayor David Screech urged directors to leave it in.
“The problems in the parks are growing every year and in Thetis, especially, the dog problems are significant,” Screech said. “This is such a small amount of money in terms of our overall budget that I would really hope that we could leave this in.”
The percentage tax increase that homeowners will face varies depending on assessments and what CRD services their municipalities or electoral districts participate in.
CRD capital spending will increase $54.8 million to $213 million next year, with the core-area sewage-treatment project accounting for the lion’s share.
The sewage-treatment project accounts for almost 85 per cent of the increase. Other capital spending includes about $29 million in drinking-water infrastructure and about $9 million for wastewater infrastructure on the Saanich Peninsula.
