Capital Regional District directors could barely scrape together a quorum to pass their $203-million operating budget for this year, as worries over conflict of interest continue to dog local officials.
The concern follows a January 2013 B.C. Court of Appeal decision involving two Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee directors.
“This case has effectively disenfranchised a number of communities, not just in the CRD but right throughout B.C., when it comes to voting on budgetary issues,” CRD chairman Nils Jensen said.
In a unanimous decision in 2013, the Court of Appeal found a conflict involving Christine Torgrimson and George Ehring, who were elected trustees of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee, a land-use planning body. They had voted in 2011 to approve grants to two societies for which they were directors, even though they had no direct pecuniary interest.
That has resulted in a quagmire for municipal politicians, who are generally active in the community and are often members of community groups before and while they are in office.
Jensen said the ruling also ensnares local politicians who are cross-appointed to the CRD and other boards. For example, if a local politician is appointed to the CREST (emergency communications) board or the Greater Victoria Coalition for the Homeless, he technically could be considered in conflict because the CRD funds those organizations.
When the CRD budget came up for consideration this week, only one of Victoria’s nine representatives — the city has four directors and five alternates — could vote on it. Jensen recused himself and his alternate could not vote to avoid potential conflict.
A quorum for the 24-member CRD board is 13.
“I have a lot of concern about that and the fact that it hasn’t been corrected by the B.C. government,” said Jensen, who is a lawyer. “They have to pass regulations or legislation that makes it very clear what are and what are not conflicts of interest and in what instances they arise and actually eliminate situations when you’re cross-appointed.”
Meanwhile, the budget — which did pass — could mean anything from a slight decrease in CRD taxes to a fairly significant increase, depending on where you live and what services your municipality buys into at the CRD.
Jensen said that even though homeowners in some municipalities such as Esquimalt or View Royal are facing double-digit percentage increases (for Esquimalt residents, it’s 19 per cent and in View Royal, it’s 18.28 per cent), that’s primarily due to the phase-in of sewage-treatment funding.
Overall tax increases are “quite modest” and some homeowners, such as Metchosin residents, will even see a CRD tax decrease, Jensen said.
“Using Esquimalt as an example, Esquimalt’s increase for an average house is $68.51, but if you were to remove the wastewater-treatment portion, the increase is about $13. Which is in keeping with the increases in other communities. When you look at View Royal, which [will see a tax increase of] $49 on the average residence, $38.52 is how much they are paying for the wastewater treatment.”
CRD tax increases in municipalities such as Oak Bay (6.85 per cent), Victoria (7.50 per cent) or Saanich (5.89 per cent), which are all part of the core area sewer program, are not as high as Esquimalt’s because they are funding part of the sewage-treatment program through methods such as utility fees.
The proposed CRD capital budget for 2015 is $131 million, of which the wastewater-treatment plan accounts for $75 million. The remaining $56 million is directed at park development, land and infrastructure upgrades.
