{"videoId":"nOGlvoEfJRw","source":"serpapi","segments":[{"t":239,"text":"Hey, good afternoon everyone. It's 1:00, so I would like to now or sorry, not 1:00, my goodness, 4:00, I'm sorry. Um,"},{"t":248,"text":"I would like to call our special council meeting to order at 4:00 on April the 1st after April Fools. Uh council, I'd"},{"t":258,"text":"like to recognize that we are holding this meeting on the traditional lands of the South Kananu nations and I'll turn your attention to the agenda and that is"},{"t":267,"text":"that the agenda for the April 1st, 2026 special meeting of council to be adopted as presented. It's moved by councelor St. Pierre and Betos. Is anyone opposed?"},{"t":278,"text":"Seeing none, that carries unanimously and we move right into our public question and comment period. So, I would like to invite members of the public, of"},{"t":286,"text":"which we have many folks here in the gallery. Thank you for joining us today."},{"t":290,"text":"Uh, this would be your one opportunity to address council on today's budget. So, we look forward to hearing from you."},{"t":297,"text":"Please introduce yourself and uh and we have two minutes for each speaker, please."},{"t":310,"text":"Hello, Lord. I just want to say I've been in business in many in many businesses, some of the toughest ones and a farming, gas station and"},{"t":319,"text":"restaurant. And we went through some pretty tough times in the '7s, 80s when costs went up and we had started out"},{"t":327,"text":"with 16 staff and it was lucrative business at the time, but then things changed. Uh business different"},{"t":335,"text":"businesses happened to come up. It's a long story. Anyway, we had to lay off staff. tough to do because there were"},{"t":341,"text":"family staff but we did so I I just want to say the district of souk has realized a a a significant"},{"t":351,"text":"amount of monies through co startup monies and grants since 2020 the amount grants received from 2019 to"},{"t":358,"text":"2022 or 15 million832,862 yet our taxes keep going up what's the"},{"t":367,"text":"issue we have $81 million in DCC contributions yet we're talking about a referendum for 41 million for through"},{"t":374,"text":"road bypass when this is what DCC's are for. In 2018 our population was 14,8485"},{"t":386,"text":"and the payroll for 2018 was 4.2 million. In 2026, our population is"},{"t":393,"text":"17,983, an increase of 20% and our payroll is 11.6 million."},{"t":402,"text":"We have an increase in population of 3,500 with a 20% increase, but we have a payroll increase of about close to 200,000 200% triple payroll in 5 years."},{"t":414,"text":"I think we know what needs to be done."},{"t":419,"text":"I hope the council is is diligent. This is our monies and I want you to really think carefully what we're doing with our monies."},{"t":429,"text":"150,000 was taken from the RCMP reserves for tax decrease uh to res to to bring the taxes down."},{"t":436,"text":"So, will that be made up next year in taxes to replace the $150,000?"},{"t":441,"text":"Okay. Thank you, Miss Lurs. We're at time, but you're always welcome for we're at after the two minutes. There may be other speakers. We'll invite you back first."},{"t":449,"text":"Yes. Thank you. Mr."},{"t":454,"text":"Tour officer, your worship. I just wanted to advise you in the meeting that while Miss Lewis was speaking, councelor Mcmath joined the meeting virtually. So, she is she is now present."},{"t":462,"text":"Thank you, councelor Mcmath. I'll just turn to you to please test your video and your audio."},{"t":472,"text":"Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. We'll see you later. the the uh screen off."},{"t":480,"text":"Okay, thank you. Welcome to our next speaker."},{"t":491,"text":"Hello, my name is Tracy Clark. I'm a taxpayer here in Souk. And uh it is my understanding that today council will"},{"t":499,"text":"vote on whether to pass one or three proposed budgets, each of which include a tax increase of 8 10 12% respectively."},{"t":508,"text":"And I um have heard that you you've said that you're leaving no stone unturned and looking into every nook and cranny"},{"t":516,"text":"for savings to taxpayers. Yet every year we're still forced to pay an increase in our property taxes, leaving less income"},{"t":525,"text":"in our pockets. While every year the number and salaries of administrative staff increase disproportionately, i.e."},{"t":533,"text":"higher than the increase in the population here in souk."},{"t":538,"text":"In our current environment, we're facing a potential cr like we all know what's going on in the world. I I assume we're facing a potential crash in the world"},{"t":547,"text":"economy. skyrocketing energy prices that affect almost every aspect of our lives."},{"t":554,"text":"In Canada, we're also being hit today with the industrial carbon tax increases, which again will trickle down"},{"t":561,"text":"to those who can least afford it, especially with respect to food prices."},{"t":566,"text":"Food inflation is up 7%, groceries up 30% since 2021. all staples and everyday"},{"t":575,"text":"items still climbing ever higher. Um, just to name a few things. More and more"},{"t":583,"text":"we're having to make citizens are having to make serious tradeoffs and sacrifices just to get by. And I believe it"},{"t":591,"text":"behooves our council to serve the soup taxpayers responsibly and act prudently with the funds to which they've been entrusted."},{"t":600,"text":"Could we not try to further reduce the taxes payable, if not eliminate another"},{"t":607,"text":"increase, if I be so bold as to say, by foregoing projects that are not crucial to the ongoing operation."},{"t":614,"text":"Thank you, Miss Clark. We're also out of time. So, could I just finish the sentence?"},{"t":618,"text":"Sure. Thank you. The ongoing operation of a community, for example, the climate initiative. If not, I respectfully ask"},{"t":626,"text":"if it is truly the case that every cost-saving opportunity has been identified. Are you confident that every line item, every expense, and every"},{"t":635,"text":"resource, human and otherwise, is deemed absolut absolutely essential to the ongoing operation of our municipality."},{"t":643,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":644,"text":"Thank you very much. Okay, our next speaker, please."},{"t":662,"text":"Um my name is Helen Ritz live in Souk."},{"t":665,"text":"Uh I just want to say thank you to the council for really so thoughtfully for so many meetings going through the budget um line by line and um I I do"},{"t":674,"text":"appreciate that nobody wants to raise taxes. Um, but while 12% sounds like a large number, our tax base is really"},{"t":681,"text":"small. And as it says in the agenda today, um, or it's read somewhere, Victoria, a 1% tax increase brings in"},{"t":689,"text":"$1.8 million of revenue. Sadly, in s in soup, 1% only brings us about $145,000."},{"t":695,"text":"And I think we all agree that doesn't go far. Even at 12% we are deferring essentials. This is not an aggressive"},{"t":703,"text":"budget. It's a constrained one. Even at 12% there's no increased funding for rainwater infrastructure maintenance."},{"t":710,"text":"Even at 12% we are carrying a lot of risks. Um I beg you not to do touch the asset management fund. It is essential"},{"t":719,"text":"to the well-being of our community. Do not cut this fund. I actually think it probably should be higher, but I realize that's a lot to ask. 2% asset management"},{"t":727,"text":"puts in less than $300,000 per year into this fund. It is not keeping pace with reality. There is an un repaired"},{"t":734,"text":"sinkhole on Brownsy where I live and if I read the report right um repairing it is close to a million dollars. That's more than three years of savings of the"},{"t":743,"text":"asset management fund. You know, we've had three sinkholes alone. One failure wipes out years of savings. Um so really"},{"t":751,"text":"the bottom line is deferring costs now doesn't it just means higher costs in the future. Keeping taxes artificially low isn't savings, it's delaying, it's"},{"t":758,"text":"kicking the problem to future council and future taxpayers. I ask that you pass 12%."},{"t":765,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Next speaker, please."},{"t":786,"text":"Hello, my name is Bonnie Townsend. I've had the privilege of living in the area these past years and I've come to know"},{"t":793,"text":"the changes in the district. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to speak today."},{"t":797,"text":"I've had the propensity I have a propensity to speak long on certain topics that I'm passionate about, but I'm going to read from this document"},{"t":805,"text":"just to keep it succinct and to the point. With the chance to review some documentation recently, I've learned much."},{"t":815,"text":"I am mindful that the council has much to consider."},{"t":818,"text":"today and the months to come in terms of the direction of the municipality that despite that there has been incremental tax height hikes these past years pardon"},{"t":827,"text":"[clears throat] me this hike has compounded and will fall somewhere between 45 and 47%."},{"t":834,"text":"If we do the math another 12% will push that number over 62% since 2022 over four years."},{"t":842,"text":"Wow. But here's the clincher. A 12% ask now is not just 12%. In fact, it adds another 17% to the total increase since"},{"t":851,"text":"2022 as it compounds on previous increases."},{"t":856,"text":"From what I've read, given the road map that this municipality is choosing to embark upon, there are some incredibly huge implications to this district and"},{"t":865,"text":"its residents. Now, some of you might fully appreciate the impact that it has on ha households, families, pensioners, and business owners."},{"t":874,"text":"Some of you may not fully appreciate the province is on a physical fiscal cliff looking into the abyss and may have to"},{"t":881,"text":"pivot to trans from transfer payments of free money to the municipalities by way of grants and subsidies."},{"t":889,"text":"I've read in some of the documents that the province may be in a position where it will have to address other priorities such as healthcare debt servicing."},{"t":897,"text":"So you no doubt are aware you are no doubt aware that the credit rating has been downgraded also. No doubt taxpayers who live in souk will be forced to pony"},{"t":905,"text":"up at this level of government also. So you see the implications of the decisions of this council and what they"},{"t":914,"text":"make are great. I understand some of you have asked Mr. Towns and we're at two minutes as well. So conclude with this with the cost of"},{"t":922,"text":"living including food, shelter, now gas are at an all-time high. people will be faced to renew their mortgages these next couple of years and unemployment is"},{"t":929,"text":"creeping at an all all-time high. And you may have known, I'm wrapping this up, you may may have learned before the pandemic that 50% of Canadians were one"},{"t":938,"text":"paycheck away from not being able to survive, keep a roof over their heads, pay their bills, and put food on their uh the table for their children. And the line lineups at food banks increase."},{"t":948,"text":"It was with this I simply state please consider the implications of what you're asking those who are simply taking each day as it comes and hoping for some form"},{"t":957,"text":"of relief. They have looked for efficiencies in their own households. Some can no longer afford to go to work."},{"t":962,"text":"In fact, they're calling in because they can't afford the gas to get to work."},{"t":965,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Thank you father sense decision and consider the implications. Thank you."},{"t":973,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Our next speaker today Any other firsttime speakers?"},{"t":992,"text":"Okay. My name is Christine Hala. Um, I am a taxpayer in Souk. I would like to express my deep concern over the"},{"t":1000,"text":"proposed property tax increases. With the cost of living rising in about every area I can think of, this extra $240 per"},{"t":1008,"text":"year in property taxes is going to be too much for many, especially seniors on fixed pensions. If those seniors cannot"},{"t":1016,"text":"pay their property taxes, they will be forced to defer, which may seem to be doing, which which many seem to be doing"},{"t":1023,"text":"already. Unfortunately, the provincial government this year has decided to make it even harder for people who may need to defer the due to rising costs."},{"t":1033,"text":"Instead of paying prime less 2% simple interest to defer in 2025, you will now"},{"t":1039,"text":"have to pay prime plus 2% compounding on outstanding taxes for 2026 going"},{"t":1046,"text":"forward. This is not an April Fool's joke. This is actually in place. So, I hope that as you make these tough"},{"t":1054,"text":"decisions tonight that you may consider wisely the consequences of your actions and how it will affect the citizens of suit going forward. Thank you."},{"t":1064,"text":"Thank you very much. other speakers today."},{"t":1081,"text":"That one. Perfect. Hi, Dave Saunders, mayor, council, staff, citizens."},{"t":1089,"text":"Um, I'm repres representing this honors family and I've been since the last term, this term, I've been trying to"},{"t":1096,"text":"advocate that uh, citizens are hurting and I've been trying to advocate for affordability. I can tell you that the"},{"t":1103,"text":"majority of council has not listened to me. I've offered to meet extended periods of time numerous times. I can show the all the emails to make it more"},{"t":1112,"text":"affordable. I was a mayor during the 2008 worldwide recession. I can tell you what we're going through right now is worse. Our Saunders Family Foundation"},{"t":1121,"text":"supports citizens in this community. I can tell you very clearly that again through email or this voice that they are struggling."},{"t":1130,"text":"I do not see a strategy from this mayor and council. I'm sorry. And the majority of council, I see what I have"},{"t":1137,"text":"experienced as not listening to your public both public hearing wise and in the audience. I have tried to make it"},{"t":1145,"text":"cheaper and more affordable for citizens. I've tried to bring my knowledge base to this council. You've simply not listened to me. And in fact,"},{"t":1153,"text":"you've been obstructionist with respect to my guidance on that. I'm not a know-it-all by any means, but I've lived and breathed a lot of stuff."},{"t":1163,"text":"I asked specific questions about traffic related to the OCP. I asked about density. The density is too large. I"},{"t":1170,"text":"find it ironic that people are in the audience or previous people are advocating for increased DPAs when we"},{"t":1178,"text":"can't afford our current situation related to environmentalism. We have to get back to the essentials."},{"t":1185,"text":"That's what we need to do. I asked very clearly about the referendum. It's still not structured. Still hasn't been costed"},{"t":1192,"text":"out. I have an email from the CEO saying it's going to be determined on April 23rd. That will affect the budget. It"},{"t":1199,"text":"took me 45 minutes to get here in traffic."},{"t":1203,"text":"I still see no strategy. We're at 62% if it's voted on at 12%. I can tell you that the citizens that I deal with that are struggling right now simply can't"},{"t":1212,"text":"afford it. Again, I offer my assistance in any guidance respecting of your new OCP, which not my wording. Okay."},{"t":1220,"text":"Thank you, Mr. Saunders. We're at time. Thanks."},{"t":1224,"text":"I hope you realize that a lot of citizens are calling LCP Souk Ford right now. Souk Ford."},{"t":1231,"text":"Great. Thank you. Other speakers today."},{"t":1242,"text":"Can everyone hear me?"},{"t":1244,"text":"My name is Natalyia Saddington. I'm not a mathematician. I don't have numbers to present to you. But I can tell you that as the person who manages the money in"},{"t":1252,"text":"my household, if my husband came home from work and the money was gone and there was no food in the fridge, no gas in the car, and our bills weren't paid,"},{"t":1260,"text":"and I said, \"You know what? I need more money.\" He would be perfectly within his right to ask me, \"Where is it all"},{"t":1267,"text":"going?\" I know that our taxes in the past 10 years or our household alone has"},{"t":1274,"text":"nearly doubled. And I still see the same potholes in the same places. I still see that even when I was in high school, we"},{"t":1281,"text":"didn't have enough police to cover the area. I'm in my 30s now and that was a problem 15, 20 years ago. Still a problem now. So, what I'm hearing as"},{"t":1290,"text":"somebody who's having to pay this stuff, my husband having to work six days a week to afford to take care of us."},{"t":1297,"text":"Yeah, those problems that we had a decade ago, we still have them now."},{"t":1302,"text":"We're asking you for more money. Yeah, we have looked everywhere. We've turned over every stone. And you know what? it."},{"t":1308,"text":"We just need more money. But these problems have been going on for a long time. And even if there isn't half of souk in this place, every single person"},{"t":1315,"text":"that I know that looks at their own bills every day knows that something is not adding up here. Thank you for your time. Okay. Thank you. Other speakers today."},{"t":1326,"text":"Do I have any other firsttime speakers? Anyone speaking for a first time?"},{"t":1335,"text":"Okay. Any second time speakers."},{"t":1350,"text":"So I want to speak about the leaison officer that uh uh we the souk district"},{"t":1357,"text":"62 school district lost $3 million from provincial funding and it was downloaded onto us for leaison officer. Is it"},{"t":1365,"text":"necessary as a previous speaker said? I don't know. But we do have uh we have staff sergeants, two staff sergeants that are retired and perhaps we should"},{"t":1374,"text":"be looking at uh getting a volunteer to go to the schools or some responsible adult to go to school or maybe to the"},{"t":1383,"text":"parents straighten them out. Um I don't know that it's changing anything putting police in the school and it's unfortunate that Sam's no longer there."},{"t":1394,"text":"Um I also wanted to say with a you had the co safe starter for two 2.9 million"},{"t":1401,"text":"and your revenue increased 135.89% from 2019 2022 yet our taxes in that time same time period went up 39.75%."},{"t":1415,"text":"So is that responsible spending?"},{"t":1419,"text":"Um, I think that we've not been um conscientious. Uh, enough people haven't been watching and I I think the council"},{"t":1427,"text":"as well has not been watching on the spending issue. We don't have to spend."},{"t":1432,"text":"We don't have to do all the things that we're doing. Um, but we should be looking after our roads. The same"},{"t":1439,"text":"potholes as was previous speaker said, those potholes been there for years. You go down Keltas and you know, you lose your tire in there. It's awful. And uh"},{"t":1448,"text":"but the you know we spend money on on things like I don't know saw them on Otter Point here clearing off the grass"},{"t":1455,"text":"but meanwhile there's holes everywhere um who decided that's where the money should go and I think we have to be"},{"t":1462,"text":"looking a little more diligently where where we're spending our money and prioritize. I think we have to be a lot"},{"t":1470,"text":"more uh diligent and a lot more stringent and and I do know how to do that. I was raised in a family of 12"},{"t":1477,"text":"children with many other children added and we all survived. So I think we can survive with less and less less goodies."},{"t":1485,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":1487,"text":"Okay. Thank you, Miss Loris. Is there any other speakers left in the room that would like to either complete any comments or add something else?"},{"t":1497,"text":"Okay. Well, thank you everyone for your comments today and and others for uh attending the meeting as well as those online. So, I'll turn over to our staff,"},{"t":1506,"text":"please, just to give any uh highlights or report out on on today's reports."},{"t":1514,"text":"Uh, perfect. Thank you, your worship."},{"t":1516,"text":"Um, [clears throat] I'll just uh start uh briefly and just provide a bit of a summary of how we got here today and um"},{"t":1523,"text":"and then turn it back over to council for any questions or or any clarification. Uh we have staff, I believe, from every department here um"},{"t":1530,"text":"available to answer some questions. Uh, Sergeant Will Cox is here as well as our new uh, director of operations, Jeff Miller, on day three. Uh, so he might not know all the weeds of all the"},{"t":1539,"text":"projects, but uh, um, we'll be uh, available to answer some questions if necessary. Um, so yeah, I guess included"},{"t":1548,"text":"in the report today, this is based on the motion provided from council at the March 23rd meeting, and that was to provide um, additional options u for the"},{"t":1557,"text":"2026 to 2020 or to 2030 5-year financial plan. Um as council's aware originally we started you know there was you know"},{"t":1565,"text":"allin everyone at getting everything they would like option was was up to 18 and a half% which everyone knew was was not realistic and plausible. Um various"},{"t":1574,"text":"meetings and conversations uh with council occurred over uh numerous meetings there highlighted in the report that resulted in the 12% figure that was presented to council on March 23rd."},{"t":1586,"text":"um hearing that conversation um uh and the 12% option basically the the biggest how it got from the 18% to 12% uh the"},{"t":1595,"text":"biggest savings were resulting from uh reallocating the funding for the police officers as that is a very expensive um"},{"t":1603,"text":"emergency services unfortunately is a very expensive uh service the district provides. Um so that was able to go a long way to help us uh get to the uh 12%"},{"t":1613,"text":"option. Um, fast forward as well, including the 12% option, there was a $20,000 reduction to CAO contingency."},{"t":1621,"text":"Um, as well as a $20,000 reduction to council contingency. Uh and and again included in that option is um $84,000 of"},{"t":1631,"text":"salary savings uh included because um for for 2026"},{"t":1637,"text":"uh you there is no plan you know it's not maybe there is no plan to actively"},{"t":1645,"text":"if any position becomes vacant in the district in 2026 there's no plan to currently post that. Uh we are looking"},{"t":1652,"text":"to look for efficiencies, redeploy duties, um you know, leverage software and technology where possible to still"},{"t":1660,"text":"maintain the same levels of service, however, do it uh more efficiently um and um take advantage of some technology"},{"t":1668,"text":"that may result in that. So based on um some known departures this year, uh there is some funding that has been"},{"t":1675,"text":"included um in the option to get to 12% and that is still included in the option. um in the next uh page where"},{"t":1682,"text":"it's the 12% scenario, 10% scenario, and 8% scenarios. Um so yeah, for the foreseeable future, there will be no um"},{"t":1689,"text":"active postings with the district unless it's a critical position. Um similar to emergency services like firefighters,"},{"t":1696,"text":"for example. Um maybe a bit more on uh you know, this budget is always a challenge every year. I've I've been"},{"t":1704,"text":"sitting around this table since 2018 now. Um and there it's always a challenge to balance"},{"t":1711,"text":"the community needs um versus you know community wants and must haves. A and um"},{"t":1718,"text":"as know councelor Ben Baitman said numerous times this you know sometimes council is is required to be you know the parent and"},{"t":1725,"text":"[clears throat]"},{"t":1726,"text":"um make difficult decisions um for the long-term benefit of the district. And I believe that's what council's been trying to do over the last few years. As"},{"t":1734,"text":"um numerous people have mentioned, the part of the problem with the district is 1% of taxes only brings in right now"},{"t":1740,"text":"$145,000. Back in 2018, it only, if council remembers, it only brought in $66,000."},{"t":1746,"text":"So that is a a big shift in that that has been helped by um the uh more residents moving and more businesses"},{"t":1754,"text":"opening. Um, you know, we've been definitely working on improving our commercial tax base, um, versus residential tax base because that is a"},{"t":1763,"text":"different tax, you know, um, uh, tax rates that get assigned to the commercial, uh, versus the residential."},{"t":1769,"text":"Uh, you know, we've made small changes on that. You'll see in the tax rate bylaw, uh, that comes forward every year. There has been a small shift in in the more commercial businesses. I"},{"t":1777,"text":"believe it used to be in the 90% residential. We're in the, you know, high 80% now. So, um, you know, again, more work to do, but, um, it's coming"},{"t":1785,"text":"along. As well, I think something that will help with, uh, diversifying revenue sources is, uh, the district has applied forund $100,000 grant to undertake an"},{"t":1794,"text":"employment land strategy. Um, so we're waiting very soon to hopefully hear, um, some positive results on receiving that grant, and I think that will, um, help"},{"t":1803,"text":"um, provide some information to council to make some informed decisions that will help uh, increase our commercial tax base. um is the idea um or part of"},{"t":1811,"text":"the the goal of that. Um you'll notice in the 2026 budget, I can confirm there is no net new municipal positions um being permanent positions being asked"},{"t":1820,"text":"for. Uh there was funding requested in the um 12% option for a GIS co-op student and that is a student that is"},{"t":1827,"text":"currently working with us on a temporary basis. Uh there was some uh grant funding that it covered half of their salary for the year and um because most"},{"t":1836,"text":"of the projects they are currently working on like 911 and other asset management uh integration technology"},{"t":1843,"text":"projects um uh there was a request to include temporary funding for that year uh for"},{"t":1850,"text":"the remaining um 38,000 sorry for the rest of the year um for that position."},{"t":1857,"text":"Um, so yeah, other than that there was no and even that is a temporary position."},{"t":1862,"text":"So there is no district uh of municipal positions being requested at this time outside of the known hires for RCMP and fire should council support this budget."},{"t":1872,"text":"Um, and maybe again just highlighting too, we are staff are very aware and"},{"t":1880,"text":"understanding that the the tax increases that people are seeing are not just from municipal operations. there we collect"},{"t":1887,"text":"for the school district for the hospital district for the CRD for many others and I appreciate we all appreciate every one of them are increasing their budgets"},{"t":1895,"text":"every year so the compounding effect of that does um you know unfortunately increase taxes uh so that being said um"},{"t":1904,"text":"we staff have you know gone back to the um um as directed by council gone back and relooked and come up with some"},{"t":1913,"text":"options of what council could consider for a 10% % or an 8% scenario. um for the 10% scenario uh it includes two um"},{"t":1922,"text":"RCMP officers and I've confirmed with Sergeant Will Cox um just clarifying his request for 2026 would be for two officers one being the school liaison"},{"t":1931,"text":"officer and one being uh you know a normal a regular RCMP officer um and has worked with us to prorate the start date"},{"t":1940,"text":"and funding if those positions are approved by council to 2020 uh till later in September of 2026 this year uh"},{"t":1948,"text":"as council's aware from 2023 agreeing you know uh supporting the transition to 24 uh hour coverage for RCP and fire is a yearslong commitment."},{"t":1958,"text":"This is not something that's going to be done in one year and it is you know it is an expensive commitment and um staff are very sensitive to that and are doing"},{"t":1967,"text":"um our best to provide council some accurate um costing on what the outy years would look like for those costs."},{"t":1973,"text":"So in the 10% scenario includes the two RCMP officers including the community leaison requested by the RCMP. It"},{"t":1980,"text":"includes a request for uh July 1 start date for firefighter 14. And that's just to get some efficiencies for um overtime"},{"t":1988,"text":"savings and uh if we're going to be doing a competition anyways um rather than having somebody start December 31st if they can start which was initially"},{"t":1996,"text":"supported by council with the latest round of bargaining with IFFF. the request is if we can start them sooner uh we should have some overall overtime"},{"t":2004,"text":"savings uh with that uh as well included in the 10% scenario um because uh parks investment in parks and trails was the"},{"t":2012,"text":"number one community of priority when we did the um budget surveys and and phase one budget engagement. Uh so included in that still remains the auxiliary parks"},{"t":2021,"text":"workers and any of the small adjustments to the parks workers or the parks uh overall budget uh from community"},{"t":2027,"text":"services. Um the uh in to reach the 10% option, the reduction for the community"},{"t":2034,"text":"association has been included um and as well as the village initiative uh remains in there as an additional add-on"},{"t":2042,"text":"and the funding for the GIS student and the zoning and building bylaw dates have been removed and will either be re-examined later this year if there's"},{"t":2051,"text":"budget available or um uh potentially move to 2027 if that's required. Uh and the final piece adjustment that made to"},{"t":2059,"text":"get to the 10% option was a reduction of asset management from 2% to 1.75%."},{"t":2065,"text":"Um so those are a few of the and again staff were trying to be you know the I I"},{"t":2074,"text":"hear the residents um comments about you know where is everything else. Well, over the years, I think council will realize if when we're going back to watch those meetings, like council has"},{"t":2082,"text":"done line by lines numerous times over the years, cut expenses everywhere we can, and at the end of the day, unless council directs service reductions at"},{"t":2091,"text":"this time. Um, our focus for each year has been on internal efficiencies, finding what we can there, and then"},{"t":2098,"text":"presenting new new requests to council for decision points, um, and and showing how they align with either council"},{"t":2106,"text":"priorities or community feedback. Um, so that includes the 10% option. The 8% option, uh, is definitely not something"},{"t":2113,"text":"staff would recommend. It it defers everything. It it basically reduces the asset management to 1%. It cuts any new"},{"t":2121,"text":"uh request um and only includes one RCMP officer and everything else has been now deferred then would be deferred to 2027"},{"t":2130,"text":"potentially at this point. Um maybe uh we've tried to include a bunch of information um hopefully to make it more"},{"t":2136,"text":"clear to the readers on where this comes from the payoffs. Um and"},{"t":2144,"text":"happy at this point uh maybe to pause there and we'll defer to um the chair on uh where you would like to go next. Um"},{"t":2153,"text":"and to one point final clarity uh the bylaw in front of council includes the items um that is up for council for"},{"t":2160,"text":"consideration of three readings includes the 10% scenario. So staff are can be here um Mr. Mr. Curry and Miss Lou are here and if council would like to change"},{"t":2169,"text":"any numbers from that 10% scenario there is the option we can make those adjustments today and um if council"},{"t":2177,"text":"supports it still give three readings as amended today. Um so just for clarity the bylaw if council gave three readings"},{"t":2184,"text":"to the bylaw um 940 that includes the items in the 10% column on page 13."},{"t":2191,"text":"So I'll leave that there and turn it over to council for questions."},{"t":2195,"text":"Okay, thank you. So, we are sitting as council now. So, a resolution has to go forward. So, I understand that bylaw"},{"t":2203,"text":"number 938 was defeated. That was the 12% scenario. So, 940 in front of us is 10%. So, I'm going to start with that."},{"t":2212,"text":"And that council give first, second, and third reading to the 2026 to30 5-year financial plan bylaw number 940."},{"t":2222,"text":"Sorry. uh and leave it at that and that would be 10%. The amend the as amended piece would only come in should council"},{"t":2230,"text":"make amendments to uh shift this. So it's a starting point. Is there a mover on that resolution?"},{"t":2238,"text":"Move over to get it on the table."},{"t":2240,"text":"Councelor Betos is moving to put it on the floor. Is there a seconder?"},{"t":2246,"text":"Okay, I will second it uh by councelor Baitman. So that puts the bylaw at 10%"},{"t":2253,"text":"on the floor. Over to Councelor Betos, please."},{"t":2257,"text":"Yeah, thank you, Worship. Uh, yeah, it's it's never easy. We've done this a few years now, and uh there is some"},{"t":2264,"text":"interesting things on the 10% one that, uh, we didn't know. Uh, our staff sergeant indicated that he, uh, is going"},{"t":2273,"text":"to adjust it by one officer for $67,000, which helps. So, uh,"},{"t":2280,"text":"that's still a little alarming. I just we are still a target for 24/7 poling, I understand. Is that correct? Can I ask that question, your worship?"},{"t":2290,"text":"Yep. And can I'd like to just ask the our base commander if you don't mind coming forward into the hot seat here."},{"t":2302,"text":"Uh, but council, we just have to contain our comments and questions specifically to what's in front of us. Can you go ahead and repeat your question?"},{"t":2309,"text":"Yeah, I guess the uh 247 policing is not jeopardy by losing that position."},{"t":2315,"text":"Yeah, from uh thank you for the question, councelor Btos. Uh from my understanding with the 10% is that the two RCMP officers are are still on the ladies one and the regular cost."},{"t":2324,"text":"Yeah. So the in order to make this work instead of starting to fund it um you know like pretty quick like now uh to"},{"t":2332,"text":"get the positions rolling, we we've delayed funding until September of 2026."},{"t":2337,"text":"And that was part of the reason why we were able to reduce quite significantly on the two officers. But correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 10% still"},{"t":2344,"text":"has two RCMP officers on the table. One school leaison and one frontline policing officer. Correct."},{"t":2351,"text":"So uh in your original um presentation too, you said that uh uh with the out"},{"t":2358,"text":"that other second officer and the leaison officers that something would slip. So is something slipping in your detachment when it comes to uh this this level of uh manpower?"},{"t":2369,"text":"Yeah, the um the school resource officer came up from two different things. One was the let's talk souk budget survey,"},{"t":2376,"text":"public budget survey which was was highly wellreceived by the general public and I'll invite anybody to read"},{"t":2383,"text":"the report which I' I brought up to uh council on the January 19th meeting. Um and the second one officer was to help"},{"t":2392,"text":"with our um uh dealing with our our frontline police and our calls for service. Now um we are able to find some"},{"t":2400,"text":"efficiencies. Um I would obviously rather have three than two. Um but part of the longer term plan um and"},{"t":2407,"text":"especially with what we've been seeing previously in our um with the the youth and providing that extra service for the"},{"t":2415,"text":"youth. Uh it was I I I think having those two officers doing those two specific things is a very wellbalanced"},{"t":2423,"text":"approach to the needs of the community and and the will of the council."},{"t":2430,"text":"Okay. And uh the ratio between residents and police officers uh but that one less officer you any idea what that number"},{"t":2437,"text":"is? It used to I think the province is 850 one police officer 850. Any idea what that means? I guess what I'm"},{"t":2446,"text":"concerned about uh chief is that um I heard a lot of feedback from the residents about safety or crime rate has"},{"t":2454,"text":"gone up considerably. a town growing and uh one of the things we heard from the public is they wanted to see more police presence and I even heard it here"},{"t":2463,"text":"tonight and my concern is if we lose that position uh are we going to be able to meet our needs and I mean our needs"},{"t":2470,"text":"because it's our community uh with the police staffing that you have."},{"t":2474,"text":"Yeah. Um, so the the extra third position came as a council resolution I believe I want to say 6 weeks ago in"},{"t":2482,"text":"regards to um having staff look for the funding of two uh police officers and these are general duty police officers"},{"t":2489,"text":"that would be taking calls for service and that sort of thing plus one school leaison officer in order to meet the uh"},{"t":2495,"text":"the 12% threshold. What we did was um uh instead of the the three that was on that proposal, we have two officers, but"},{"t":2505,"text":"one of them is school liaison. So from my January 19th meeting um and in one of my slides uh that I have in the"},{"t":2512,"text":"presentation, um my ask for from council was for two police officers. Now, originally I said two frontline"},{"t":2518,"text":"officers, but um from the feedback that I've received from the council and also the uh the community feedback as well,"},{"t":2526,"text":"having one of those two officers as a school liaison, uh we felt that would be a more balanced service delivery"},{"t":2533,"text":"approach uh for the community. So, we're actually not taking anything away. We were looking at potentially adding a third officer, but that would just bring"},{"t":2541,"text":"the property tax increase too high, and that's where that 18% uh came out. So, we um we're still sticking with the"},{"t":2548,"text":"original two, which would uh um still maintain our service levels. Okay. Thank you. And have more officers out on the road."},{"t":2556,"text":"I'll let I'll let other counselors have a go now. Thank you very much."},{"t":2559,"text":"Okay. Thank you very much. Um yeah. Did you have anything?"},{"t":2565,"text":"Wait, please while I clarify, you do have some pos questions for our staff."},{"t":2569,"text":"So, I have staff and as the secondary I have comments as well."},{"t":2573,"text":"Yes. So, I just want to invite our base commander to to move if he wants to if he needs to but okay start with questions for him."},{"t":2583,"text":"Thank you. So to be clear this you said you you said school please liaison officer but slash community liaison it's"},{"t":2590,"text":"a hybrid position to be determined how that officer will split her time between school and the town center and its"},{"t":2599,"text":"needs. Yeah, the the position would generally uh would uh robustly be for our youth and our schools. However,"},{"t":2607,"text":"within that position, there is the community aspect as well. And um initially when I was talking about it was perhaps we can have a more of a"},{"t":2616,"text":"hybrid type of model. Um the issue with that is especially when I when I was um"},{"t":2623,"text":"uh speaking with the schools about their needs. Um it came it came very clear that having a full-time school resource"},{"t":2632,"text":"officer was the way to go. And and just for context, it's not just um you know our um this person is is going to be servicing just Edward Mill or Jouri."},{"t":2641,"text":"It's going to be those two schools plus all of the uh the elementary schools."},{"t":2645,"text":"And I believe the student body, and don't quote me on this, but is around um 1,600 kids. So, um having a part-time,"},{"t":2653,"text":"even if it's only, you [snorts] know, 25 30 hours a week officer 3 days a week in the schools um and doing other things in"},{"t":2660,"text":"the community, um I I don't think is as efficient to build those relationships with the youth, um especially with um uh"},{"t":2668,"text":"trust and engagement and activities and that sort of thing. So uh to your point about the community uh liaison position um certainly you me mentioned"},{"t":2677,"text":"[clears throat] some groups before um in order to supplement that I would like to take that on uh more robustly than I have in the past um so we can focus this"},{"t":2686,"text":"position more on the youth and then I can take a bigger lead when it comes to uh the other stuff you're looking for."},{"t":2692,"text":"Okay. Thank you and thank you for having uh the MCS and Journey Middle School principles right in support of this"},{"t":2699,"text":"position. very strong support and the chamber of commerce of course is very much in support of that role you will"},{"t":2707,"text":"take with working with businesses to ensure increased safety in the town center in light of recent incidents. Um you know you you did argue very"},{"t":2715,"text":"persuasively for that GIS disclosure clerk as an individual who would uh free up your officer's time and take away"},{"t":2723,"text":"that pile of paperwork that bogs you down. You're not getting that this year."},{"t":2728,"text":"So that is a necessary sacrifice I suppose in in these in what we're trying to create an austerity budget here."},{"t":2738,"text":"I I I'll defer to the director of finance but I I believe there is a a way to still have that. Um"},{"t":2746,"text":"I I'll defer to them but that that may not be um taken off completely. So over to staff please."},{"t":2754,"text":"Uh yeah just for clarity uh through the chair to councelor Baitman. Uh the disclosure clerk, while not fully funded this year, um staff uh through the"},{"t":2761,"text":"motion um council supported, we're going to take away the um three positions that"},{"t":2769,"text":"um had just been assessed and then reassess it. uh regroup on on what potential new job description could look"},{"t":2776,"text":"like and uh with the hope of there would be enough internal savings that that position could potentially be if um ends"},{"t":2783,"text":"up being created and and filled later this year or reporting back to council on on a bit with a bit more information at this time because we just don't know"},{"t":2790,"text":"for sure where uh if jobs get reassessed, if duties are removed and all that stuff. So, so not necessarily completely off the shelf, just no"},{"t":2798,"text":"dedicated funding at this time. We were hoping to repurpose current funding."},{"t":2802,"text":"Okay. Thank you. So that's um just a comment here kind of"},{"t":2810,"text":"motivation for um this I I'm very much in support of of that. I believe it's"},{"t":2818,"text":"now an 11.5% scenario now that we've removed one of the three police officers. Um and as much as I ear just"},{"t":2828,"text":"mentioned an austerity budget and that might create some disbelief in the audience seeing um the kind of numbers"},{"t":2836,"text":"that have been uh progressed over these this last uh decade I think and we look back to uh the period immediately before"},{"t":2845,"text":"the last decade when there was zero or no tax increases uh zero or very low tax increases. Um in 2023 we as a council"},{"t":2855,"text":"committed to 247 fire and police and in 2024 we moved into asset management as"},{"t":2862,"text":"well. So that is the lion share of these increases. Um the I think when I came on"},{"t":2870,"text":"to council, one of the key things around this uh the district of souk was to est"},{"t":2877,"text":"the need to establish a more stable professional fullervice organization and I think over these last number of years"},{"t":2885,"text":"that's exactly what's being uh created here at at the Roy openhouse last night."},{"t":2891,"text":"I was chatting with uh one of their representatives and that's exactly what they look for in a community when they want to invest and if they're going to"},{"t":2900,"text":"invest in this community means they want to see that um the basics are covered"},{"t":2907,"text":"and that they're they they have the a supportive uh staff to work with or a"},{"t":2913,"text":"full full scale staff to work with. Um looking at the 10% scenario and seeing"},{"t":2920,"text":"the community association for example their $70,000 is eliminated in this scenario. Uh the community association"},{"t":2928,"text":"came here two months ago at their and argued very persuasively that local municipalities in this region often are"},{"t":2937,"text":"involved directly with uh what this the community association supplies to the district. So they came to us and said,"},{"t":2944,"text":"\"We would like 35,000 each for the operations and ongoing maintenance of Fred Milan Park and Art Morris Park.\""},{"t":2952,"text":"And um again, it Yeah. So I'm curious as to why"},{"t":2960,"text":"through through me through through you to staff the community association has been eliminated from 10% scenario."},{"t":2967,"text":"just the the the thinking in terms of what how you chose certain items to eliminate and certain items to keep."},{"t":2974,"text":"Uh through your worship to councelor Baitman, uh the community association uh item was chosen um"},{"t":2981,"text":"based on the the amount of the ask um because if you see even eliminating all those other things didn't produce enough"},{"t":2990,"text":"money to get to a 10% uh scenario. Um, our understanding is, you know, I guess the thought was, um, you know, staff"},{"t":2999,"text":"will always be working with the community association and perhaps, uh, we could more fulsomely flush out what their"},{"t":3006,"text":"actual needs are and present, uh, new council after the election, um, a more comprehensive, uh, revision to service"},{"t":3014,"text":"agreement at this time, um, and see if they would be able to get by without those funds for 2026, just based on the fiscal realities. However, that is"},{"t":3022,"text":"definitely an option for council to introduce um some of that funding back."},{"t":3025,"text":"So, um no, you know, and just in the interest of something had to go um their request was pretty material in the overall um scheme of things."},{"t":3036,"text":"Okay. So, I'll just close by saying I'm a taxpayer as well and uh I I don't like"},{"t":3042,"text":"to uh to see my taxes increase on my salary. Uh I don't have a pension. Um,"},{"t":3050,"text":"but I do want to live in a community where I can can uh call the police and ensure that they will show up at my doorstep. Uh, I want to ensure that if"},{"t":3058,"text":"my house is on fire that we have a suitable uh police force where they can come in and rescue me and my cat and my wife and and not in a team of two not be"},{"t":3068,"text":"able to enter that burning building. Um, and I I definitely want, you know, when I hear today that our potholes are not being filled, they are being filled routinely."},{"t":3078,"text":"um that that's what that uh asset management fund is all about. And I do want one more last question and I see in"},{"t":3085,"text":"the 2025 plan here that we had uh $600,000 in asset management and $548"},{"t":3094,"text":"was spent in this last year for capital projects. So basically our asset management uh reserve is already being"},{"t":3102,"text":"utilized in uh in wholesome fashion. So you're left this year at the end of the year with last year 64,891"},{"t":3112,"text":"um like what would happen in a sinkhole on"},{"t":3119,"text":"D4? Where does that get paid? How how do you pay for repairing this sinkhole on due for uh through your worship to councelor"},{"t":3127,"text":"Baitman? I can start and perhaps Miss Lou or someone uh can add on if necessary. Uh so when emergency works happen um that that's when um any"},{"t":3137,"text":"internal savings that have been realized in another department potentially are or access for funding depending on the cost"},{"t":3144,"text":"of the emergency repair um borrowing could be considered as an option uh for it. Um but for smaller you know for D4"},{"t":3152,"text":"for example for that that that would be basically um depending on the time of the year either utilizing the existing budget or if it's near the end and that"},{"t":3159,"text":"budget has been stretched is re-examining the other budgets that have been approved that haven't been fully spent and redeploying some of those funds um to to get the repair happening"},{"t":3168,"text":"because when emergencies happen we don't really have much options but to repair it. So it does make it more challenging."},{"t":3173,"text":"Um if necessary, we you know, we bring back depending on how significant or material something would be. Um if it warranted an amended financial plan, you know, that something that potentially"},{"t":3182,"text":"could come back to council, but um usually we start internal and try and find the money internally. Um and then if that's not an option, provide council with some decision points."},{"t":3193,"text":"May also be like charters where the road was crumbling and falling apart. So the half the road gets shut down and traffic"},{"t":3201,"text":"gets diverted in a different way until such a time comes along that the whole road is replaced."},{"t":3208,"text":"So it may not be repaired. It may just sit depending on the the extent of the of what it is at the time."},{"t":3220,"text":"Okay. Councelor say I have councelor Pearson then St. Pierre."},{"t":3225,"text":"Yes. Thank you chair. Um, so, uh, staff staff sergeant has gone from his chair there, but would you like do you have questions for"},{"t":3232,"text":"this? Okay, if I could please welcome, uh, base commander will cox back, please. Good."},{"t":3242,"text":"Okay. So, through the chair. So, the do we have an average price of officer?"},{"t":3249,"text":"It's I've got written down here 280k. Is that kind of is it a little bit plus or minus 2? believe it's 266,000."},{"t":3257,"text":"Now, we don't get paid that um that that is the all-in cost for an officer. So, that's obviously salary and pension eats"},{"t":3265,"text":"up a big chunk of that. That's also training equipment, IT support, um various other vehicles, all the stuff that I'm wearing, that sort of thing."},{"t":3274,"text":"Gas, gas for the vehicles. Um the um so so my question is then if we're going to start funding this at September"},{"t":3283,"text":"which is about 70 something K per officer starting in September of 2026"},{"t":3289,"text":"that means there's 140 or plus deficit that's going to be going onto the budget in 2027 for those just to maintain those"},{"t":3298,"text":"two officers. Is that the way I'm understanding that?"},{"t":3300,"text":"Yeah, you're correct. So the the thought behind this especially to reduce it from the original 18% mark is um we can start"},{"t":3308,"text":"these positions later more more notably at the beginning of the school year. And the thought behind this was instead of paying for an entire officer for an"},{"t":3315,"text":"entire year we can spread that cost out over two years. Yes, the full cost will be um will be next year but the property"},{"t":3322,"text":"tax percentage increase is going to be spread out more over a over on a two-year basis."},{"t":3328,"text":"Okay. Um yeah. So and and your projection through the chair the projection is to have 30 officers by 2030. Correct."},{"t":3341,"text":"Um well that's what I was reading in the Yeah. So there was a slide in my January 19th presentation that said that on the"},{"t":3348,"text":"very high end. Do I think we need that by 2031? So it's a 5-year plan. No, I I don't think that's going to happen. the likely scenario uh and it depends on the"},{"t":3357,"text":"will of the council and how much service that they need um or they want, but it'd likely be more in between 24 and 27. It"},{"t":3365,"text":"also depends on the rate of growth because remember we're starting fairly far behind. We've only had three police officers authorized since 2008. So, we"},{"t":3374,"text":"went from 11, now we're at 14. Um, and part of the reason why we have 24-hour policing was we were able to lobby the provincial government to provide two"},{"t":3381,"text":"provincial policing officers, which actually got us over the minimum threshold for that. And then last year, council was able to authorize two more positions, which started our GIS unit."},{"t":3391,"text":"Now, we're we're catching up on the the budgeting and the funding for that. Um, so I I think it'd be likely in between the 24 to 27 mark, but it it depends on"},{"t":3400,"text":"a number of factors and and what the new council would like to see. Okay. Um, and when that starts getting baked into the"},{"t":3408,"text":"2027 year budget, whereabouts where where's the lifespan of the office, the the facility? Where are we"},{"t":3416,"text":"getting to on that as well? Because that's all you and I mean, I'm asking you hypothetical questions, but again, this council has a, you know, we're"},{"t":3424,"text":"turning things over to a new council fairly shortly and and you know, there's going to be some big surprises in the back end there. Yeah, that that's an"},{"t":3431,"text":"excellent question and and um what I've mentioned before and I still hold true to this now was I uh my number one"},{"t":3438,"text":"priority is to provide the best policing service I can to the municipality the district of Souk. Um I would rather have more police officers than a bigger"},{"t":3447,"text":"building. If my officers have to work on top of each other um in order for us to uh have more officers to provide that service, I will I will do that. If"},{"t":3455,"text":"somebody needs to share my office, I'm happy to do that. saying that uh we will run to a point where our we're we're too"},{"t":3464,"text":"big for our breaches. Um we uh likely are going to be working with staff on a a longer term plan into the 2030s. I"},{"t":3473,"text":"envision this is more of a we'll certainly talk about in the next council, but this is more of a a 2030s type of thing. Um, and I'm hoping to uh"},{"t":3482,"text":"realize our our staffing plan as best that we could in order to catch up with our service before we start looking at at that new building."},{"t":3491,"text":"We might have to play this tape in the future. I'm okay with that. Okay. Thank you."},{"t":3498,"text":"Did you have other general questions now on on the resolution where we're sitting at 10%. Okay. Um, none for staff sergeant."},{"t":3507,"text":"Okay. Thank you. You may come back depending on Yeah. Thank you for being here today. Go ahead, councelor Pearson."},{"t":3513,"text":"Okay. Yeah. And it was it was brought up in discussion um the asset management and we're spending the asset management"},{"t":3522,"text":"which I'm I'm glad that we're collecting the asset management, but I kind of was under the impression last year and and I could be wrong is that that was kind of a savings account, but it looks like to"},{"t":3531,"text":"me, you know, on our budget sheets here, it's a working account. We're using it to update um and and fix things in the"},{"t":3540,"text":"current time. It's not an asset management that you know we get $10 million in the bank and then we can fix all the potholes and and the bridge and all those things, right? Is that my"},{"t":3548,"text":"understanding? We're using it by by our spreadsheet. You're using it as a working account. Is that correct? Yeah. I'll have staff elaborate further."},{"t":3556,"text":"Uh yeah, through your uh through the chair to councelor Pearson. Uh yeah, that's correct. basically the asset management getting the solid commitment"},{"t":3563,"text":"from council every year to add hopefully 2% or whatever percent some dedicated funding every year just allows uh our"},{"t":3571,"text":"capital budgeting to have a known funding source for some of these projects when these emergency projects come up etc. Um, yeah, ideally it would"},{"t":3581,"text":"be great just to let money save up in there and then do these massive projects. And hopefully at some point we can get to there if future councils keep committing to the 2% cuz if council"},{"t":3589,"text":"remembers the presentation when you supported the asset management it was to do 2% a year for like the next you know 20 years or or so and you know reassess"},{"t":3598,"text":"obviously after a few years here. But uh yeah, that was that was the goal is that for the short term we need this for day you know for year-to-year um capital"},{"t":3606,"text":"projects and then ideally there would be hopefully enough money collected on an annual basis that funds could gather up for the larger projects."},{"t":3614,"text":"Okay. So so the so then if we subscribe to asset"},{"t":3621,"text":"management on an ongoing basis it's a 2% tax increase per year. I thought that and I could be wrong. I thought that"},{"t":3628,"text":"that was coming out of revenue in a general sense."},{"t":3632,"text":"Every year we were going to dedicate 2% of our total. It's from the tax lift. Is that what you're telling me? Okay."},{"t":3639,"text":"Yes. That is the model. Sorry. Uh through the chair to council person."},{"t":3642,"text":"That's the model that council supported was uh net new 2% every year, not find efficiencies to create 2%. At least"},{"t":3650,"text":"that's the direction that we've been following to date. Yeah. Okay. Um,"},{"t":3660,"text":"I liked this sheet that we had last year that"},{"t":3668,"text":"showed department because it like it's a lot of a lot of busyiness to try and get through to find out where the increases are. Um,"},{"t":3676,"text":"as an example, um, and and humor me for a sec here. uh the municipal hall and"},{"t":3684,"text":"fire hall one roof, siding and windows and doors and then I see the deduction comes out of"},{"t":3692,"text":"the reserve fund of asset management. Is that correct?"},{"t":3700,"text":"uh through the chair. I believe that project is uh funded um by um uh some"},{"t":3707,"text":"money came from COVID fund and uh a portion of it came from fair smart grant. Okay."},{"t":3713,"text":"And yeah, a portion of it probably asset management it came from different funding sources."},{"t":3718,"text":"Okay. And then the other question I have on that is is that it it's coming under the heading of parks. So how do we"},{"t":3727,"text":"choose the building, the roof, the siding as parks and why is it coming out? Okay. There. Can I ask through the chair? Yeah."},{"t":3734,"text":"Through the chair. Because um parks has two um parts of of their operations"},{"t":3741,"text":"facilities and and parks and and environmental kind of things."},{"t":3747,"text":"This this is the facility part of the parks uh department. I I let Rachel to explain it more. Yeah. uh through"},{"t":3756,"text":"through the share to council Pearson. Uh yeah, the facilities angle with with parks as I see Miss Hooper in the in the uh chambers today. Um it was always"},{"t":3765,"text":"being handled by parks. It just wasn't clearly defined. Um so over the few years we've been trying to more clearly define the facilities aspect of that"},{"t":3773,"text":"responsibility that sent under the parks department. So that's why for now at least uh in the current iterations of our um department breakdown is"},{"t":3781,"text":"facilities still is with parks and that's why their capital projects fall under parks. So it's always been there."},{"t":3786,"text":"It's just we're trying to be a bit more uh not trying we are we're being more specific and intentional with the facilities aspect of that because it is"},{"t":3794,"text":"a huge portfolio and it takes a lot more um finances and capac staff capacity than we were anticipating or realizing"},{"t":3801,"text":"back in the day. Okay. Um, I have a couple. Do you want me to keep going with my questions? And"},{"t":3809,"text":"uh, you're almost at your time allocation. Why don't you ask one more and then we'll circle back. Okay. Okay. I'm almost at my time."},{"t":3817,"text":"Well, no, I No, I appreciate that."},{"t":3818,"text":"Procedual wise, you've gone over your time, but I we're here to do readings of the budget. So,"},{"t":3827,"text":"um, I've got two other qu. Okay. So could staff explain to me on the the the risk if we deleted the consultant fees"},{"t":3837,"text":"of 60k uh through your through the worship to"},{"t":3844,"text":"councelor Pearson I believe are you talking about the zoning and building bylaw updates consulting fees um so the"},{"t":3852,"text":"Marshall wasn't here um the risk is basically we need to do these updates Um,"},{"t":3860,"text":"staff capacity, we're not we weren't 100% sure on how much staff capacity was going to be available. Um, so I don't"},{"t":3868,"text":"think this work would stop. In the 10% option, all of the funding has been removed. Even in the 12% option, it was down to $30,000. In the 10% option, it's"},{"t":3876,"text":"removed completely. And staff will just, if that's the option council supports, we'll take that away and reassess. We know this work still needs to be done."},{"t":3883,"text":"So we will just reassess on how we can um either find additional funding um if available or do this work inhouse with existing resources."},{"t":3893,"text":"Yeah, you've answered my question. It can it be done in-house?"},{"t":3896,"text":"Exact. So yes, I think that was the original idea and then um [clears throat] you know the timing of the essence we know council and the community is eager for uh zoning and"},{"t":3905,"text":"building bylaw updates. So, um, but yeah, there's a low risk to this work will still carry on. Um, it it just"},{"t":3913,"text":"might be slightly delayed once we confirm staff capacity to bring the report forward."},{"t":3917,"text":"Thank you. Um, I have more questions, but I'll save them until my next second round. How's that? Thank you. Okay. Thank you, councelor St. Pierre."},{"t":3926,"text":"Hey, so through worship to staff, um my first question has to do with uh some comments that were made by some of our"},{"t":3934,"text":"speakers, which I found very interesting. Uh we have a huge amount of grant money that uh came in over the last few years. Uh but seemingly we've"},{"t":3942,"text":"had no increases in services or any additional services. I kind of find that I know that's not possible. So, I know"},{"t":3950,"text":"it's also really unlikely for most people to actually know what the district is doing and what's going on under the hood, so to speak. So, I would"},{"t":3958,"text":"really like at this point in time, what have we been spending lots of grant money on it? Uh, if you can provide some indications of what sort of service"},{"t":3966,"text":"level increases have we had? Uh, I know that when people are not actually getting a building permit, they're not necessarily caring that it's a lot"},{"t":3973,"text":"faster to get a building permit now. But I'd like you to go provide some information because whatever decision we make today, uh, whether it be 10%, 8% or 12%."},{"t":3986,"text":"This is also an opportunity for people to better understand what the hell we're doing."},{"t":3994,"text":"Uh, through your council St. here if you can just give me a second to pull up like because we've gotten to the"},{"t":4002,"text":"member's point millions of dollars worth of grants. So some of them were for CO uh during CO times that were used for"},{"t":4010,"text":"emergency services. Uh the fireh hall renovation uh and emergency operations center um was created on the second"},{"t":4018,"text":"floor downstairs with some of those funds. um millions of dollars for um various infrastructure projects have"},{"t":4026,"text":"been received over the years. We don't get I guess if you can just give me a second I can maybe review the grants a bit more. More of the grants are for"},{"t":4034,"text":"one-time projects. They're not usually for ongoing uh service improvements, but that funding may have been the seed funding"},{"t":4041,"text":"that started um a project. So, just give me a second to refresh my memory here."},{"t":4045,"text":"Uh, while you're doing that, should I continue with other questions or Sure. M."},{"t":4052,"text":"Sorry, Mr. Curry might be able to speak a little bit to it first."},{"t":4056,"text":"Sure. Um, just while Miss Gray uh grabbed some more information through the chair to councelor St. Pierre, the just um because I recently wrapped up"},{"t":4064,"text":"the funding and the grant claims and the final report for the Little River project. That's a good example that was uh originally budgeted for almost 3"},{"t":4073,"text":"million and finished um just over 2 million. Um so it's almost a million uh less than expected and that was 100%"},{"t":4081,"text":"funded from a combination of grants and developer cost charges. So not one uh cent of tax dollars went towards that."},{"t":4088,"text":"So it was a combination of growing BC funds uh funds we received from the province a couple of years ago and uh"},{"t":4096,"text":"active transportation grant from the federal government and another active transportation grant from the provincial government and then the DCC combinate uh"},{"t":4104,"text":"factor as well like finished the funding for it. So um that's that's an example of one of the projects that's top of mind right now cuz it just wrapped up"},{"t":4113,"text":"and we just finished the report. Um there is a big list of other grants that I'll uh I'll pass back to Mrs. Gray if she wants to go down the list with you."},{"t":4122,"text":"Uh highlights uh through the chair to councelor St."},{"t":4127,"text":"Pair. So uh yes, some of the grants like I said are not really for day-to-day operations. They're for a one-time project to improve day-to-day"},{"t":4134,"text":"operations. So uh indirectly it helps improve service levels um and services."},{"t":4141,"text":"uh you know for for example like the BC hydro greening grant we got um in improves you know the the community"},{"t":4150,"text":"and um the the parks and that was you know again just $7,500 for that one. We have the ICBC road safety improvements"},{"t":4157,"text":"that was a bunch of the um speedreader boards crosswalk improvements. So again most most of these grants are about um"},{"t":4164,"text":"helping supplement our low infrastructure capital budgets um to make these projects happen. Uh the NextGen 911 was another huge grant. And"},{"t":4173,"text":"and to clarify, all of these grants need to be reported as revenue on our financial statements. So it's not net new revenue. It's not money we get to"},{"t":4180,"text":"spend. We're only allowed to spend it on the specific project. We're not allowed to redeploy these funds as we we see fit. Um and then as Mr. Curry stated,"},{"t":4189,"text":"most of our grants um we got, you know, fires smart, we get we're very successful around 200,000 every year for a firesmart grant that helps offset some"},{"t":4196,"text":"of those costs in that department. And the majority of our grants other than that have been for major capital uh infrastructure projects like Mayor Tate"},{"t":4204,"text":"said Deamuel or Charters Road, Deamuel Creek, uh Otter Point in the back in the day. Um so and the the biggest uh"},{"t":4212,"text":"service increase, you know, outside of grants uh that council's uh the community has seen from their tax increases would be the uh implementation"},{"t":4220,"text":"of 247 RCMP and fire coverage. That is a massive change in services over the last few years um that council has supported."},{"t":4227,"text":"Okay. Thank you. That actually leads me to my next question uh which is um there was mentioned that the cost of staffing has increased tremendously and I know"},{"t":4236,"text":"that when we reached 15,000 people we had to actually take on most of the costs if not all the costs I believe of policing. I know that u we also have a"},{"t":4244,"text":"very low I kind of hate this term cop to pop. Uh"},{"t":4250,"text":"[clears throat]"},{"t":4251,"text":"we don't have a good ratio in terms of our number of residents versus police officers. Uh we also looked at 24/7 and"},{"t":4258,"text":"we looked at 911 being essentially u given to us as an expense."},{"t":4264,"text":"Aside from the 911, what does the firefighter and policing represent in terms of our overall increase in staff costs over the last four or five years?"},{"t":4280,"text":"Are those numbers easy to get uh through the chair? I I believe we've got some breakdowns. If you can just give us a second, we can see if we can"},{"t":4289,"text":"um No problem."},{"t":4290,"text":"factor that in or get a bit more clarity on that. Okay."},{"t":4299,"text":"And I will comment at this point that um we also need a lot of staff. One of the reasons we can actually use all these grants and apply for all these grants is"},{"t":4308,"text":"that if is that we have the staff to actually notice them, apply for them, make sure we have the appropriate projects, not go looking for grants when we need them when not go just searching"},{"t":4317,"text":"for grants, but finding pro we have projects. That's a grant we can use and that actually saves the taxpayers a lot of money and in this particular case,"},{"t":4324,"text":"you know, tens of millions. But we still get in some cases infrastructure, libraries, sidewalks,"},{"t":4331,"text":"charters, wastewater treatment plants, and who knows what else without having to actually put that on the taxpayers, which is important."},{"t":4342,"text":"through the chair. I have this year's um number for the IAFF"},{"t":4348,"text":"um labor cost. The um tax increase just to support the um our firefighters um uh"},{"t":4357,"text":"payroll cost is is at 2.42% of tax increase. A total of 348,900"},{"t":4367,"text":"in increase. three almost 349,000 increase in in payroll cost to support the firefighters."},{"t":4375,"text":"Are those numbers similar over the last four or five years through the the chair to councelor St."},{"t":4383,"text":"Pierre? I have a um just some numbers here that it's a 10-year history of costs. Um so for the fire department, I"},{"t":4391,"text":"don't have it broken down by salary. I just have overall cost of the department. Uh from 2016 it was 1,72,000"},{"t":4400,"text":"and then going to 2025 which is um oh sorry I read the wrong line. The fire"},{"t":4407,"text":"was 1 million and 2011,000 in 2016 and then 2025 is 3,61,000."},{"t":4414,"text":"So from 1.2 million to 3.6 million over the 10-year course. So not quite tripled."},{"t":4422,"text":"Not not quite. No. Okay."},{"t":4425,"text":"And that's for firefighting. Uh do we have similar numbers for policing by any chance?"},{"t":4429,"text":"I I do have the RCMP numbers here as well. Um that's 1.7 million from 2016 to"},{"t":4436,"text":"U 2025 is 3.9 million. It's actually 3.99. So you round it up to 4 million."},{"t":4443,"text":"Okay, that's to 2025. So that doesn't include 2026. Okay. So, not quite tripled and a little more over doubled."},{"t":4453,"text":"Okay."},{"t":4455,"text":"And we don't actually have numbers of what that would be representing in terms of the overall staff increases. I do."},{"t":4461,"text":"So, yes, I have the I have the general government services which would be the overhead of the rest of the the budget."},{"t":4468,"text":"Um, so the 2016 was 3.7 million for general government. This is the rest of the district operations. And then uh to"},{"t":4477,"text":"2025 this is six 6 million uh six it's actually 6.1 million. Okay."},{"t":4485,"text":"So less than doubled."},{"t":4488,"text":"Uh that's that's correct. And this this is the impact against taxes. Actually I should just caution that um I split this up as as a portion of the tax increase."},{"t":4498,"text":"So this isn't the complete overall cost."},{"t":4501,"text":"this um wouldn't include other services like related to revenue. I just wanted to run a 10-year history of um"},{"t":4509,"text":"essentially the impact of taxes and how that divides between police, fire, and general government. So, there is offsets"},{"t":4516,"text":"that would also like um not be included, which be like if there was an increase in building permit revenue and an increase in staff according to that,"},{"t":4524,"text":"that wouldn't be included. This is just the breaking up the tax increase over the 10 years. I was just actually just curious about the number. So, it's there."},{"t":4534,"text":"Thanks. Thank you very much. That's it for me. Okay. Thank you, councelor Haldane."},{"t":4541,"text":"Yes. Thank you. Um just one quick question with uh staffing is through the chair. How many people"},{"t":4548,"text":"work at the district of Souk full-time basis now?"},{"t":4557,"text":"uh three worship I believe full-time is 70 staff including the paid on calls is just over a hundred now for for the paid"},{"t":4564,"text":"on call firefighters um um so those are not permanent full-time staff they're just um with the um paid on calls for"},{"t":4571,"text":"the fire department but I believe yeah the full-time FTEES uh is around 70 at this time"},{"t":4578,"text":"okay so um I look through our charts what are back to 2020 we had 39 people working in the district of Souk and then"},{"t":4586,"text":"now we have 70. So we're we're looking at 31 more people working in the"},{"t":4593,"text":"district. Um, at this point going through the books and looking at some of the numbers with revenues coming in,"},{"t":4601,"text":"expenses, costs, um, we run into the situation where we're close to doubling"},{"t":4608,"text":"our amount of employees in six years and then we're running into a situation where our funding"},{"t":4615,"text":"is obviously coming down. Our revenues are down, our expenses are are up, um service costs are up, everything's just"},{"t":4624,"text":"up through the roof. So, private sector always calls on you to be able to make cuts or make exclusions. Something has"},{"t":4633,"text":"to change or has to happen. And listening to a bunch of people in the audience here tonight about where we're at, how we are doing things. And again"},{"t":4641,"text":"in given the world scenario, given our federal government, our provincial government, all these things,"},{"t":4648,"text":"there has to be austerity measures that have to come to light here. We have to we have to come to terms with what we're doing as an organization, how we're"},{"t":4656,"text":"going to fix it. I don't have the expertise for that. I'm just a lowly carpenter, but I do have an understanding of how business is run and"},{"t":4664,"text":"how you can make ends meet and and and make things work. And I mean it goes back to me further than that. I mean we"},{"t":4672,"text":"spent a lot of money on this OCP recently and that costs taxpayers piles of money. But embedded into that OCP is"},{"t":4679,"text":"all kinds of stuff that have to do with this budget. And this budget here says over the next three years we spend one.2"},{"t":4687,"text":"million fixing up our boardwalk. Well, that's a a want. That's a expectation for people to have a place to go and do"},{"t":4694,"text":"whatever. But the whole point is we can't afford it and we can't afford new boardwalks. We can't afford new waterfront trails and parks and stuff."},{"t":4701,"text":"But they're all embedded into this new OCP. So how are we going to come up with the money for that? We can't even come up money to fix the potholes. So, we"},{"t":4709,"text":"have to come to terms with reality and and it and it's sad that this document is this overreaching expectation of all"},{"t":4717,"text":"this great stuff, this Wizard of Oz euphoria that we plan on living in one day, which would be great if we could get to that point. I don't see that"},{"t":4725,"text":"happening unless we come across a lot of money at some sometime. So, I'd like to see austerity measures at least in the"},{"t":4732,"text":"interim in order to be able to make balanced budgets make things meet here so we're not at 12 and and crazy 18% tax"},{"t":4742,"text":"increases. I mean, I would like to see it 8%. I don't believe I'll get the support across the board here, but I do"},{"t":4749,"text":"think that there's other ways we can get to where we're at without having to cut from some of the budgeting you talk about. I mean, everybody keeps talking"},{"t":4757,"text":"about the 2% that we could cut, but we can't cut the 2% because we need it to fix up this building. And and if it's if if it's a fund that we're using right"},{"t":4765,"text":"now, it's impossible to cut it because that means we wouldn't be able to do any of the maintenance to this district stuff that we've already basically"},{"t":4772,"text":"planned and and are in the works of setting up right now. So, um [clears throat] I wouldn't know exactly where to go from here. I would"},{"t":4781,"text":"like to see after this motion passes or fails a motion to have a um a hiring freeze on district staff"},{"t":4790,"text":"until the end of this budget term. And I'd like it to be something more formal."},{"t":4793,"text":"I I understand we brought it up that that's what we're planning on doing, but I'd like to see it be formal and maybe I can have an opportunity to bring that up"},{"t":4801,"text":"later in this this meeting for that reason. You know, we have people um who come up and speak and they talk"},{"t":4809,"text":"about being okay with these large tax increases and stuff, but even in that document, the official community plan did not identify a lot of the stuff that"},{"t":4818,"text":"we need fixed up in the community that could have been done by a lot of the developments that are coming forward to us right now. Um a lot of expectation"},{"t":4825,"text":"for new road infrastructures that can be done and paid for by development and developers as they reszone and get development permits for lands and stuff."},{"t":4834,"text":"they shouldn't be on the back of the taxpayer to have to come up with with the funding for for our throughput pro"},{"t":4840,"text":"connector things like that and and even water street and all these other places that need this money. So, um I've said my piece I I understand where we're at."},{"t":4852,"text":"I just would like to see a a better way to get there and I haven't seen that yet. And I do appreciate all the work that's been done, don't get me wrong"},{"t":4860,"text":"here. I mean, it's complicated. It's large. I just look at it from a layman's set of eyes and a and a standard way to"},{"t":4868,"text":"get there that I think is is simpler than than cutting our asset management plan stuff like that. Okay. Thank you."},{"t":4877,"text":"Okay. Thank you. I'm going to go to councelor McMath who is online."},{"t":4883,"text":"Councelor Mcmath, I'm calling out to you to see if you have questions. Um yeah, I just need a second to un unmute."},{"t":4892,"text":"Um, I don't have any questions yet."},{"t":4894,"text":"Okay. So, any comments on the motion that's on the floor right now? No. Okay."},{"t":4903,"text":"So, I'll go to second time counselors. Councelor Betos is next."},{"t":4909,"text":"Sorry, your worship. I I'm motivated before. I never really got a chance to speak other than the motivation. So, I'd like an opportunity. Uh, I'd like to deal with what's before us. and we have"},{"t":4917,"text":"the 10% object and then the 8 uh% option. Uh I'm certainly not in favor of the 8% option. I'd love to go to a 0%"},{"t":4927,"text":"but all these things cutting out uh it would not be good for our community. Uh on the 10% uh option uh we already"},{"t":4935,"text":"discussed that the police officer uh for the 67,000 drops us down to 11.5."},{"t":4941,"text":"I see and I'm hoping some discussion from my fellow counselors is uh the suit community association which does a"},{"t":4949,"text":"tremendous amount of work sort of on our behalf. They keep the playing fields and community center going. They asked for"},{"t":4956,"text":"70,000 increase and of course that's pretty pretty rich. Uh is it possible to give them only half of it this year um"},{"t":4966,"text":"and then phase it in over over a few years? that would increase from 10% probably uh you know a little higher to"},{"t":4974,"text":"10.5. And the last one I have to agree with uh my counselor fellow counselor her uh Pauline is I'm really not"},{"t":4983,"text":"interested in seeing that 2% asset management dropped. Uh so that involves another half percent."},{"t":4991,"text":"uh you know we we struggled with that 2% asset management and uh because we've seen over the last number of years"},{"t":5000,"text":"soup's built on an old landfill all over the place logging roads uh the pipes are all rotten in the ground and if we don't"},{"t":5008,"text":"plan for the future to to come across some of these things and you can just look recently uh at some of the potholes"},{"t":5015,"text":"not potholes but roads sinking away and sink holes that have filled in the roads we have to have some money to respond to"},{"t":5022,"text":"those for safety reasons. So, um I I I'm okay with the that most of those things in that 10% column, but I would like to"},{"t":5031,"text":"uh keep the asset management uh to uh the 2% and uh I I don't know about the"},{"t":5040,"text":"soup community association. I'd be interested to hear what my colleagues say."},{"t":5043,"text":"Okay. So just given that the what is in front of us is 10% would you like to put forward an amendment at this time to to"},{"t":5053,"text":"uh like a motion to amend the budget to increase the asset management to 2%. That would be an order."},{"t":5061,"text":"Yes, I'll make that motion that we increase the asset management back from uh 1.75 to 2%. Okay. Is there a seconder for that?"},{"t":5070,"text":"Seconded by councelor Pearson or pardon me St. Pierre, sorry. Uh, would goodness would you like to motivate any further"},{"t":5078,"text":"on that that increase? And then I'll also then uh ask staff just to do what that will do to the percentage."},{"t":5086,"text":"Yeah, I think I I motivated basically enough. I think it's crucial to us moving forward, especially, you know, in"},{"t":5093,"text":"the last few days and with all the rain we had and some of those big hole, not potholes, but roads washing away. Uh,"},{"t":5101,"text":"and we have to fix it. It's safety and uh, so yeah, I'm in okay with that motion. Councelor St. Pierre."},{"t":5111,"text":"Okay. Uh, may I just ask from staff um, if you could just clarify? We're sitting"},{"t":5117,"text":"at 10. This amendment would put us at uh, Thank you. through the chair. The increase um, the dollar amount is $72,244."},{"t":5130,"text":"That's actually half a percent."},{"t":5133,"text":"Okay. So that we'll be at 10.5%. 10.5%. Right."},{"t":5138,"text":"Okay. Any other counselors wish to speak to the amendment? Councelor Pearson,"},{"t":5146,"text":"I'm I hear the I hear the principle of the ask, but I'm not comfortable increasing"},{"t":5155,"text":"the tax. you know, we came with eight and 10 was what was what we passed at the last meeting. Um, this is an amendment to that and it it feels like"},{"t":5163,"text":"we're doing an amendment on the fly um to asset management. I and I get that, but that's, you know, I got told at the"},{"t":5173,"text":"last meeting and um that we picked 12% out of thin air to budget. We got told that at last"},{"t":5181,"text":"meeting a counselor told me that that threw a number up there at 12. And now suddenly we're, you know, we're trying to struggle with 8 and 10 or 8 and 8 and"},{"t":5190,"text":"10. And now we're now we're saying, okay, well, you know what? We're having another sober second thought on increasing it back up. So it it feels"},{"t":5198,"text":"like to me it's scope creep. Okay. Well, because you know, I don't want I don't want to be the person who votes against the community association getting their"},{"t":5206,"text":"money either. But asset management, um, there was a proposal by staff, I get it."},{"t":5213,"text":"Things are tough. Um, and we're going to get 1.75% asset management as opposed to"},{"t":5220,"text":"2%. What's the difference? 77,000. But again, what's the message we're sending out there? No, I I would if somebody"},{"t":5228,"text":"came to me with a different proposal, not increasing something that was on there, you know, do we cut another budget? Do we cut another thing? Do we"},{"t":5235,"text":"look for operational efficiencies? Um, do we cut council's travel budget? I I like I'd rather not start increasing and"},{"t":5244,"text":"start picking and choosing in the middle of a of a process. We've got eight and 10. People are telling us right now that they can't afford the 10%. And then"},{"t":5253,"text":"we're going to, you know, yeah, it feels good, but we should do that. I I don't I don't like feeling good. I like to it be to be based on information and and away"},{"t":5261,"text":"we go. Um, we haven't even heard from anybody what the CRD increase is on the 820,000. We know what it is. It's 5"},{"t":5270,"text":"point what was it? I think through the chair I don't I know it's not fair to ask. I don't remember. But it's but it's up there."},{"t":5276,"text":"It's another 5% and then what's the library fees and what's and it's not $240 a year for the average household."},{"t":5284,"text":"It's it's going to be $30 and something dollars and we know that. And that's starting to affect people. $30 a month"},{"t":5291,"text":"is maybe how they buy. Anyway, no, I'm not supporting the motion. Sorry."},{"t":5297,"text":"Okay, getting back to the amendment. Uh, anyone else on the amendment? Councelor McMath, I understand. Is her hand up? Okay, go ahead, please."},{"t":5306,"text":"Just a clarity on the amendment. Is this amendment including the asset management and the community association? It's just the asset management."},{"t":5319,"text":"We can do a series of other amendments as council wishes to add or remove, but this one specifically is just asset management."},{"t":5327,"text":"It is solely for asset management. Okay. Thank you."},{"t":5329,"text":"Okay. Any other comments from members of council?"},{"t":5335,"text":"So, I will speak in favor of this. Uh we have an asset management policy."},{"t":5341,"text":"Finally, we need to find and put revenue aside for our capital budget. It's not"},{"t":5348,"text":"wages. It's simply capital uh improvements or repairs to infrastructure, which over the decade"},{"t":5355,"text":"and some that I've been here has been a ongoing concern, whether it's culverts"},{"t":5362,"text":"or piping or roads or other items that are failing around town. And largely"},{"t":5369,"text":"unfortunately I don't think residents see this because there is nothing new."},{"t":5373,"text":"It's just fixing what is in the ground and what we need uh as opposed to dealing with a closure. So in terms of"},{"t":5380,"text":"picking numbers out of the air uh council sat through several meetings including a committee of the whole where eventually it's like okay where do you"},{"t":5389,"text":"want to be? And that is what started the discussion because at some point we have to conclude this and move on to other"},{"t":5397,"text":"business of the municipality. So that is where that decision point was made. Uh and it brings us here to today. So I am"},{"t":5407,"text":"in support of the acid management. It's much like a rainy day fund. If you own a house, you need to think about your future roof, your future replacement to"},{"t":5414,"text":"your plumbing, your future repairs to toilets, replacing windows and doors and gutters and anything else that might fail in your home. Similarly with your car, you get a rock to your windshield."},{"t":5425,"text":"You need to find money for the deductible. You need to pay for anything that fails when your warranty uh runs out or if it's not covered. It's uh"},{"t":5433,"text":"general housekeeping. So, it's it's prudent and wise and I'm in support of it. So, I'm going to call the question on the amendment. All those in favor of"},{"t":5442,"text":"the amendment. Any opposed to the amendment? Councelor Pearson is opposed."},{"t":5447,"text":"Councelor Halbane is opposed. Councelor Mcmath, I'm uncertain. So, I'm assuming you're in favor unless I hear otherwise."},{"t":5455,"text":"Um, I don't see you on the screen. So, just uh call out if I'm incorrect. So,"},{"t":5461,"text":"that passes or that carries on a 5-2. So going to our next speaker, I'll go back"},{"t":5468,"text":"to who had the floor, which was councelor Betos. Was there anything further now that we have an amended motion on the floor? Is there anything"},{"t":5476,"text":"further that you would like to add or say at this time?"},{"t":5480,"text":"Okay, other members of council, I believe councelor Pearson was next, so I'll turn it over to councelor Pearson."},{"t":5488,"text":"And this would be your opportunity if you so wish to remove something. You can make an amendment to delete something or you can add something. That's up to you."},{"t":5497,"text":"Um through through the chair. Thank you. Um what is the source of the extra 2.815 million shown in fees and charges."},{"t":5510,"text":"That's on."},{"t":5512,"text":"Can you maybe narrow it down to what? Okay. Hang on. Because there we have 12 attachments."},{"t":5520,"text":"Yeah. It was just a general revenue."},{"t":5522,"text":"Revenue coming in, right? So, hang on. I circled it on here. See what that was all about. It seemed odd. It seemed like"},{"t":5530,"text":"an odd number to me. Increased fees and revenues."},{"t":5534,"text":"I'll ask our It was on revenue."},{"t":5536,"text":"Director of finance to maybe did have it circled. Oh, well, I didn't"},{"t":5558,"text":"got way late on that day."},{"t":5562,"text":"Know which attachment you're on? Yes, I was going to I had it circled of course then I got delayed on"},{"t":5572,"text":"was on revenue coming in revenue"},{"t":5583,"text":"uh 26 23 it's right there. That one right there. That one."},{"t":5591,"text":"Um I think it's attachment 11 I page 161 of 163"},{"t":5598,"text":"page 11 and charges and it's partial tax is 2.8 million and then fees and charges. What is what makes up that fees and charges?"},{"t":5606,"text":"Okay, that's on attachment 11. Thank you. Page 161."},{"t":5620,"text":"seems to be it's decreasing by 700,000 in the next"},{"t":5631,"text":"couple years and then down to 2.2 and then 2.2 million. What's about the fees and charges"},{"t":5640,"text":"and I was looking for a 2025"},{"t":5659,"text":"for the chair. Yeah."},{"t":5661,"text":"Um, councelor Pearson, if I understand your question clearly, you're asking why it's increased."},{"t":5667,"text":"Yeah. Decreasing in in the next five years. Okay."},{"t":5671,"text":"So, yeah. So, how did it increase, right, over 2025? And what is what what is I guess what makes up fees and charges? Okay."},{"t":5678,"text":"And what did it jump by?"},{"t":5680,"text":"The um um the incremental is triggered by the uh sewer um connection fees. We"},{"t":5688,"text":"have 136 um lots in the in the works."},{"t":5694,"text":"Okay. So the sewer manager just uh did a calculation saying assume like all those um"},{"t":5702,"text":"hookup hookup all take place okay will bring $1.44 million just in"},{"t":5709,"text":"connection fees and all of the 100% of that 1.44 million will be transferred to sewer expansion reserve."},{"t":5717,"text":"Gotcha."},{"t":5718,"text":"Yeah. That money will not be spent anywhere else. It will go to the sewer expansion reserve."},{"t":5724,"text":"Okay. Yeah, that's the majority of that that revenue."},{"t":5728,"text":"Excellent. Okay. And then my next question was, can we as a district"},{"t":5735,"text":"through the chair, can we decrease the amount that we're paying to economic?"},{"t":5743,"text":"Well, well, no, because why I'm asking is because it's now a different amount than what we were told. Um, so that's a"},{"t":5752,"text":"significant difference and a significant amount of money. So are we allowed to do that through the jur?"},{"t":5759,"text":"Probably not given that we are in a binding long-term agreement uh and that agreement spells out what local governments pay for."},{"t":5769,"text":"And through that whole mess, for lack of a better word, it was determined by other entities, namely the"},{"t":5777,"text":"province, that local governments are to pay this. So it would be like not paying our uh utility bill. So unfortunately"},{"t":5785,"text":"not. But to residents that's 4% of your taxes to make 911 calls. Mhm."},{"t":5790,"text":"We had art uh advocated for an alternative putting a cell phone levy because cell phones are increasing and"},{"t":5796,"text":"landlines are not. Uh that has not we're waiting to see if there's any appetite by the province to consider that."},{"t":5803,"text":"Yeah, it so no unfortunately a long answer."},{"t":5806,"text":"So it's being answered by the chair. So, um, and and and the reason I asked that is is that these some of these costs that are just being dumped on us by the"},{"t":5814,"text":"province. We we don't have an option and it's it's causing a lot of anxiety and the system is unfair. Again, I'm going"},{"t":5823,"text":"to say that that I have a cell phone. I don't have a house phone, but I can call 911 from anywhere and I'm not paying for 911. Anyways, that's just my little"},{"t":5830,"text":"rant. Um, we've talked about the RCMP. Okay. So, I"},{"t":5839,"text":"don't I I don't have any extra questions at the moment. I think I have one more here, but I'll kind of go through it because now I got lost. Thank you."},{"t":5847,"text":"Okay. Uh, anyone else? Like we are sitting now at 10.5. Would other counselors like to propose any"},{"t":5856,"text":"amendments or have any questions or would you just like to make a statement about where we're at? Councelor Baitman."},{"t":5863,"text":"Yeah, I have a question and that's um thank you councelor Haldane for raising this point around the pier and boardwalk expansion project. So all of that money"},{"t":5872,"text":"is coming out of the community works fund, the gas tax and also a little bit of casino funding. So that these are not"},{"t":5880,"text":"tax-based but I was thinking okay so in 2027 there's dedicated 555,000"},{"t":5887,"text":"from community works. Now that community works is that not also possible to use uh to"},{"t":5894,"text":"bank and use in a kind of asset management. No, it's it's not."},{"t":5899,"text":"No, they they uh that has been an issue and an ongoing advocacy one where"},{"t":5906,"text":"sometimes when grants are shared a third a third a third through the different entities of government, we don't have our third. So, it would be prudent for us to save that and then no, you can't."},{"t":5916,"text":"You receive it and it needs to be used and it needs to be spent on specific items per that overall agreement. So,"},{"t":5924,"text":"no, you cannot save it. I think maybe two years you can you can hold up to two years and then it it has to be reported out if otherwise"},{"t":5932,"text":"the argument because all the other related grants in that whole stream are always overs subscribed. So if we're not"},{"t":5940,"text":"spending the money then they will take it and allocate it reduce our share because we're not using it and allocated to other local governments that do"},{"t":5948,"text":"advocate and need the funding. So no it has to be used. Is there anything further that or clarity or if I Yeah, to council reason through the"},{"t":5955,"text":"chair, I was just going to clarify we have to staff are required to report on an annual basis uh the the ins and outs"},{"t":5962,"text":"of of that reserve fund and uh I know in the past I have had questions from from the facilitators of this program of how"},{"t":5970,"text":"come you guys haven't spent enough money and how come you haven't done this project or how come this one that was on the books for a few years. um because once we spend a bit of money on a"},{"t":5978,"text":"project, it sits in their queue and we're reporting out on it. So um while we can save some of it, we don't have to"},{"t":5985,"text":"spend every dollar every year per se for a larger project. Uh that is peritate."},{"t":5990,"text":"The intent is that it's supposed to be actively used and reinvested into the community um as much as possible."},{"t":5997,"text":"Okay. Yeah. I I just I see the 555,000 in 2027 going towards uh phase 2 pier"},{"t":6005,"text":"and boardwalk expansion to the prestige which in this day and age would be a nice to have not an essential. So I"},{"t":6014,"text":"imagine at this time next year a number of like that will be reassessed and uh perhaps redirected"},{"t":6022,"text":"to to it would be redirected to what's eligible in the program."},{"t":6029,"text":"any anything else? Okay, Councelor Helane."},{"t":6034,"text":"Yeah. Um, since 2022, our revenues in the building department are down $332,557."},{"t":6043,"text":"So, rather than us making more money as a district and we say there's all this building going on and soups out of"},{"t":6051,"text":"control or whatever as far as as development, yet we're down 332,000. What's that as a tax increase?"},{"t":6060,"text":"Is that 3% 4%."},{"t":6064,"text":"So, we're looking at trying to find ways to to again keep funding this"},{"t":6071,"text":"organization, but we have less money coming in to fund it. So, at some point, something has to give. And sadly, we're"},{"t":6078,"text":"looking at at little tidbits within this thing here."},{"t":6084,"text":"and and the elephant in the room is there is other ways of cutting without having to go into asset management. So"},{"t":6093,"text":"again, I I think we have other options here and we're not covering them, but I'll once again"},{"t":6101,"text":"say that when times are tough, we have to make tough decisions. We're expected to lead in this community, and I'm going to point out the obvious."},{"t":6112,"text":"We have to we have to cut back. It's as simple as that. We can't keep expecting taxpayers to pay crazy increases of 8, 10, and 12% every year, year after year."},{"t":6124,"text":"And if you look at the five-year plan, it's going up for the next bunch of years. And and apparently there's going to be some relief in five years. But who"},{"t":6133,"text":"knows? The next councils may find ways of spending more money than we have coming in at that point, too. And we'll be up to another 10 or 20% increase."},{"t":6142,"text":"You may also find that another order of government will pass a bill down for us to pay. We pushed back on the 4% for"},{"t":6150,"text":"ecom. The RCMP unionized. At one point there was uh a lot of um commentary out"},{"t":6158,"text":"of the House of Commons that the federal government would absorb the absorb the retro. Then they chose not to. So that"},{"t":6165,"text":"became a local government expense. We are at risk through the Vancouver Island Major Crime Unit. So to residents here are those online. If a homicide occurred"},{"t":6175,"text":"in our community, we are on the hook for the full expense. That would be over potentially a million dollars of what is not covered right now of what we've"},{"t":6182,"text":"advocated to be included into a program sort of like an insurance program along with other local governments. However,"},{"t":6189,"text":"that program is closed. It has been closed since 2016 and we are unable to op to uh access that. Uh which is why"},{"t":6197,"text":"establishing the general investigation services the GIS department would help as a preventative way to hopefully see what is coming"},{"t":6206,"text":"uh on the ground. Other things were like the cost of hardware and software. These are all decisions in how our RCMP is kitted out. Those are not local"},{"t":6215,"text":"government decisions but we're handed the bill. So again getting to what councelor Pearson and others have said."},{"t":6220,"text":"So local government tax framework is antiquated. This was established under the reign of Queen Victoria over a century ago when largely we were moving"},{"t":6228,"text":"around by horses and it's never changed since or on foot. Yet this the demands on local governments uh and modernizing where we're at have increased 10fold."},{"t":6239,"text":"There are some advocacy and there is a whole discussion underway led by the union of BC municipalities to change the"},{"t":6247,"text":"formulation of the community works funding. But that is a tri that's an agreement between the federal and provincial governments. So where that's going to land, I don't know. It's an"},{"t":6255,"text":"advocacy role that we have. So again, the cost pressures are real. We've provided some. You've heard of casino revenue that helps to offset some. Why"},{"t":6263,"text":"are we not receiving any funding for online gambling, which is also taking place and creating harm throughout our community of which we receive nothing."},{"t":6270,"text":"Cannabis is now a legal substance of which we receive no syntax for. However, it was one that we had to bust up grow"},{"t":6278,"text":"ops. Our police officers were dealing with possession charges, court files, and the like. That's now clean money running through our community of which"},{"t":6286,"text":"we received none. The cell phone levy again is another of which we receive none. So, there's other ways of which we tried to diversify, but they're not our"},{"t":6293,"text":"decision to make. And I hope that some of you that are interested take this advocacy up to our MLA and to our member of parliament so that they too are part"},{"t":6301,"text":"of this conversation because they're part of the decision-making model and we're just paying the bill. Councelor McMath, you're online. I'll go to you next."},{"t":6310,"text":"Sorry. Um previously I got pulled away or speaking of a 911 call, but um just going back. So our goal from our 2025 um"},{"t":6319,"text":"5-year budget plan was to hit uh 2026 with a 9.7% If we I'm just looking at the way that"},{"t":6327,"text":"this is sort of framed. So, what would our tax increase be this year if it"},{"t":6334,"text":"weren't for some of those provincial downloads that we're experiencing right now?"},{"t":6342,"text":"I'll ask Miss I think I see Miss Lou taking out our calculator. So, I'm just going to ask her give her a moment to"},{"t":6349,"text":"reply back to that. Uh I just from our last committee of the whole discussion though I'll share that of 12% which I"},{"t":6357,"text":"know residents of don't like how that breaks down 4.04% was dedicated to RCMP 3.04%"},{"t":6367,"text":"to fire 0.08% to debt 2% to assage management your municipal operations are 2.84%."},{"t":6377,"text":"That all adds up to 12%. So, in terms of the concerns about municipal operations, that is 2.84% likely a bit less of your overall 12%."},{"t":6390,"text":"And then I'll just wait for Miss Lou to Here we go. through the mayor. Uh to"},{"t":6397,"text":"answer your question, if ECOM 911 remains uh the same invoiced amount of"},{"t":6405,"text":"last year that that was the $290,000 and this increase to $430,560."},{"t":6413,"text":"If the billing remains unchanged, we would save 1% on the tax dollars. So if if if there"},{"t":6423,"text":"wasn't ecom 911 billing at all, if we pay nothing, we would save 3%."},{"t":6429,"text":"Right. Okay. So it just cuz it when the community is trying to understand like where this increase comes from besides"},{"t":6437,"text":"our own pressures. I just don't know if we're highlighting enough how much of that is out of our control and how Souk"},{"t":6446,"text":"is trying its best to pinch where it can and it's making cuts unfairly"},{"t":6453,"text":"due to those downloads. So, I just I think we can do a better job of of communicating that as we go forward with this budget cycle."},{"t":6461,"text":"Well, thank you for expressing it, Councelor McMath. It's appreciated."},{"t":6465,"text":"Okay, so council, we're back to the um where we are right now. We're sitting with an amended motion at 10.5%."},{"t":6475,"text":"Are there any other speakers on this?"},{"t":6478,"text":"Councelor St. Pierre. Okay. So, at this point, I imagine we're making comments before calling the question is my guess."},{"t":6484,"text":"But yeah, this because what is on the floor is this is the first, second, and third readings. Should this pass, it'll the"},{"t":6491,"text":"next part would be a open house or a budget openhouse for April 8th. That that motion is still pending depending"},{"t":6500,"text":"on the outcome of this one. So this would be your your opportunity to weigh on on this and then if it doesn't pass then we'll see where that goes next."},{"t":6510,"text":"Okay. So I'd like to say first of all that I do agree with uh concerns that this is entirely untenable that we"},{"t":6516,"text":"cannot actually manage uh ongoing even 10% increases let alone 12 or so on"},{"t":6525,"text":"and so forth. that's the case largely because it's based on an antiquated taxing regime which basically says that it all"},{"t":6534,"text":"falls on the property owners and all falls on property taxes. Meanwhile, 93% of our taxes in various other forms go"},{"t":6540,"text":"to the province and the feds. 7% is collected through property taxes. About that of that half of it goes towards our"},{"t":6548,"text":"operations. The rest goes towards libraries and so on and so forth. So of the tax dollar 3.5% is actually coming to us through"},{"t":6556,"text":"the property taxes. There's no way property tax continue to pay for sink holes and all the rest of the stuff"},{"t":6564,"text":"that we have to pay for and ongoing management and taking care of everything. But we're trying to actually manage things in an intelligent way so"},{"t":6571,"text":"that we actually have money set aside for the next sinkhole for the next thing that burns down or breaks down or whatever it is."},{"t":6578,"text":"There's two ways honestly that we can look at this. uh we can say let's tighten the belts. That's one way. I think the other things we can do are we"},{"t":6586,"text":"have to push back on other levels of government for other revenue sources and for fair distribution of the revenue that's out there to pay for the things that we need and not to have to beg for"},{"t":6595,"text":"it through grants. We need the money that's needed to actually pay for asset management upfront so we can actually maintain our assets. Uh it's ridiculous"},{"t":6602,"text":"to expect otherwise when we don't have the ability to tax property owners enough to actually pay for those those things to be done. So there's a huge"},{"t":6610,"text":"advocacy piece here where we need to be getting money from the right sources."},{"t":6614,"text":"Money for services through cell phones should come through cell phone bills."},{"t":6617,"text":"That's all there is to it. Meanwhile, it's coming to the property owners."},{"t":6620,"text":"Again, it doesn't make any sense. Uh it doesn't make any sense that every service including honestly services that are desperately needed by lots of people"},{"t":6628,"text":"that are renting in the community are still paid by the property owners. But we need parks, we need schools, we need libraries, we need services. Those"},{"t":6636,"text":"services are needed by everyone in the community and especially the people that have the least amount of money who are not necessarily the property owners but everybody needs them. This system"},{"t":6643,"text":"doesn't work. Meanwhile, what can we do if we actually cut back really cut back?"},{"t":6649,"text":"For example, we cut back on economic development. What does that do? Well, it means that we don't have the money that would come from property taxes on commercial properties which are much"},{"t":6658,"text":"more than residential. That would actually help us. It's something we can control. We need to invest in the places that can actually develop other revenue sources to take the pressure off residential taxpayers."},{"t":6669,"text":"I would hope that in the future we have a smart way of going about this. We don't just decide, hey, we're going to save money by cutting back on economic development because if we do that, it's"},{"t":6677,"text":"going to bite us. Right now, we're moving from 12 to two or 12 to 2 10.5."},{"t":6684,"text":"I think we should have stayed at 12."},{"t":6686,"text":"Why? Because we need the money to actually spend and we need the money to protect the people who need it."},{"t":6692,"text":"I understand that property owners can't be paying with this forever and it's no good. That's a given."},{"t":6698,"text":"But in the meanwhile, I will support this 10.5% as it stands. Thank you."},{"t":6704,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Other comments, Councelor Pearson."},{"t":6710,"text":"Yeah. Um, lots has been said and and again it's,"},{"t":6716,"text":"you know, one more time. Oh, yeah. we just have to pay one more time and and you know what uh I feel taxpayers have"},{"t":6724,"text":"reached their threshold and they've been there for a long time. Um, you know, my my colleague next to me, you know, it I"},{"t":6733,"text":"don't disagree that the system's broken, but we can't just keep asking one more time. Oh, one more time. And it was supposed to be 9% this year. We got told"},{"t":6741,"text":"that last year. We we swallowed reluctantly 15.59 or whatever it was"},{"t":6749,"text":"last year with the with the idea that well, we'd be at 9% this year and then we have a plan forward to get it. Yep."},{"t":6755,"text":"The province downloads. there's always somebody's downloading something. Um I don't I don't know. I don't I don't it doesn't feel right to continually just"},{"t":6764,"text":"say, \"Okay, one more time.\" You know, we're at we're at a we're at an important juncture in in our political"},{"t":6771,"text":"careers as well. Um I have three questions. Would the sou school district pay for partially for the leaison officer? I don't know. I never asked"},{"t":6780,"text":"that question. Um could the district share ecom expenses with nearby municipalities? And the answer, we already know that, right? I don't know."},{"t":6789,"text":"I don't know. There's It just seems to me like, you know, we're telling everybody we're turning over every rock and everything, but no, one more time."},{"t":6796,"text":"And I don't like it. Um came here with the idea of being at 10%, which I didn't like. And now we've"},{"t":6803,"text":"increased that and everyone's, you know, everybody's okay increasing it. And then, you know, I heard I suggested"},{"t":6811,"text":"increase it again. No. Um, I I can't support this on an ongoing basis. It just it's it just doesn't sit well with"},{"t":6820,"text":"me because the people who are paying it are everybody that's out there and they're expecting hard decisions from us. I don't doesn't feel right. I'm sorry."},{"t":6830,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Other final speakers, Councelor Baitman."},{"t":6835,"text":"Yeah. So, I I'll vote in support of this. Um, I agree with Council St. Pierre. I think the 12% would have been okay. That would"},{"t":6843,"text":"have been $240. We're coming in at a $210 increase. Um I I do agree."},{"t":6853,"text":"[clears throat] I mean, we key points here. Um and it's just a broken record. Police"},{"t":6860,"text":"fire asset management. Um police the copto ratio is is a disgrace. We're the second highest in BC currently. and that"},{"t":6870,"text":"that's just a recipe for burnout, for um uh recruitment issues, the whole range of things we have to so we're beginning"},{"t":6879,"text":"to address that uh not at the speed um the RCMP would would appreciate, but we're we're doing what we can. Likewise,"},{"t":6886,"text":"with our fire department, we have promised uh this council promised in 2023 or made a commitment at least."},{"t":6894,"text":"Promise is the wrong word. um to to get you up to 20 firefighters, you're taking a patient approach with one new hire uh"},{"t":6903,"text":"annually as we move forward as opposed to I think we were looking at two back back in in the day. Uh the asset"},{"t":6911,"text":"management piece, the recent issues that Blewood would do for Goodmir, uh these all need to be dealt with in in the uh"},{"t":6918,"text":"the immediate um present. Uh what I'm happy to see is um this continuing support for our community service"},{"t":6926,"text":"agreements and um you know as much as we've we've taken a quite a hardline approach to permissive taxes and with"},{"t":6935,"text":"that that's one of those uh measures um nonprofit housing are are losing their"},{"t":6941,"text":"their permissive tax exemptions phased over five years. But we are continuing to support all those service agreements."},{"t":6949,"text":"Um from the food bank to the community association, the community hall, um Wild Wise Souk, um Harmony Project, Amber"},{"t":6958,"text":"Academy, Souk Family Resource Society with its um very important work in prenatal and youth navigator services uh for young people who are uh challenged."},{"t":6971,"text":"Um, I'm I'm sorry that the community association is not going to get its um money this year and I I know they have a"},{"t":6979,"text":"a fairsized um uh reserve fund and hopefully they can continue. But I I think that their"},{"t":6987,"text":"message was received loud and clear that we do need to uh to support those uh those important um recreational"},{"t":6997,"text":"facilities. So yeah, so just a reminder as Mayor Tate just did, police in this budget is 35%,"},{"t":7005,"text":"fire is 21%, asset management is 17, and municipal services which include all those community um uh service uh contributions is 24%. So 10.5%."},{"t":7019,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":7020,"text":"Any other comments? Councelor McMath, is there any final comments you would like to make?"},{"t":7026,"text":"No, thank you. Okay. Anything from anyone else?"},{"t":7031,"text":"Uh I'll comment that I was in favor of the 12%. Uh having sat here where we heard from the business community"},{"t":7040,"text":"particularly on how recent events are impacting them. Uh not just recent but ongoing."},{"t":7047,"text":"uh having received the reports from our base commander who kindly is taking the time to uh to deliver and counsel to"},{"t":7055,"text":"give the story a bit behind the various numbers and the cost pressure uh and well the department response that they"},{"t":7063,"text":"have met uh and the challenges they face uh was where I supported the 12% seeing"},{"t":7070,"text":"boots on the ground in a more immediate fashion than uh waiting longer We are not a comm. We are vulnerable to fire."},{"t":7079,"text":"We have had a recent event that has a ripple effect. It didn't just impact the business owners but their suppliers, their customers, uh anyone passing by."},{"t":7090,"text":"Uh whereas another fire unexpectedly accidental in a very busy uh dense neighborhood. But again due to a quick"},{"t":7098,"text":"response, those matters were contained and did not spread. Uh so the need for fire remains one and we are still"},{"t":7105,"text":"vulnerable to wildfire. What this will look like this year I don't know but I spend most of July uh working with our emergency operations center and the"},{"t":7113,"text":"media because something breaks out uh usually accidental but spreading quite quickly towards households. So it's it's"},{"t":7120,"text":"a stressful time of year uh considering all things uh in addition to uh what"},{"t":7127,"text":"we're hearing on the ground in RCMP. The rest of it is sort of status quo with the community association. If they are"},{"t":7134,"text":"unable to access others, then they will pass that fee onto the users of those."},{"t":7139,"text":"So that'll be families that will pay higher registration fees, families that will fund raise, look for sponsorships, uh because that's how it goes. These are"},{"t":7147,"text":"important amenities that service a large population, primarily our youth and our families, and they're taking a hit"},{"t":7154,"text":"there. So I am struggling to support 10 1/2% because I think it should be 12. Uh I"},{"t":7162,"text":"think we do 10 now 10 and a half it means a higher then the future council can wear the increase. I'd rather come"},{"t":7169,"text":"in higher and have that council come in lower in future years. Isn't that a political thing to make? kick it down"},{"t":7177,"text":"the road and let the future people deal with it as opposed to making the difficult decision now and letting efficiencies prevail and a lower"},{"t":7185,"text":"increase be the gift that the future council gives. Um, but it is what it is."},{"t":7191,"text":"Uh, I think that if I don't support this, we're going to land with another defeated budget, another scheduled"},{"t":7199,"text":"meeting, uh, potentially another delay to getting on with anything that the district is doing. we have a roof to this building that needs to be replaced."},{"t":7209,"text":"Staff need time to put together the tender. The roof can only be done in a certain time of year or it won't happen at all. And then you wonder why we"},{"t":7217,"text":"didn't spend the money that uh we raise taxes for. It's because we have run out of time and time is never on our side."},{"t":7224,"text":"So begrudgingly, I will support the 10 and a half%."},{"t":7229,"text":"And leave it at that and I'm going to call the question now. All those in favor and opposed is councelor Haldane and"},{"t":7237,"text":"Pearson. Councelor Mcmath, I'm not hearing you. So, sorry, I have my hand up or against."},{"t":7245,"text":"Okay, so you're opposed or in favor? Opposed."},{"t":7251,"text":"Okay. So, that passes on a 423."},{"t":7255,"text":"And uh I'll move to our next motion, and that is that council direct staff to schedule a budget openhouse for Wednesday, April 8th, 2026 from 2:30"},{"t":7263,"text":"p.m. to 7:30 p.m. here in council chambers. Moved by councelor St. Pierre, seconded by Haldane. All those in favor?"},{"t":7270,"text":"That's carried unanimously. And that I will turn to a motion to adjourn the special meeting by councelor Pierce or uh St. Pierre. and seconded by Bettos."},{"t":7281,"text":"All in favor of adjournment. None opposed. That's carried. Thank you very much everyone for being here today."}],"words":19011,"fetchedAt":"2026-10-03T01:26:23.387Z"}