Salt Spring’s Local Community Commission (LCC) hit some bumps in its decision-making road last week, caused by disagreement over how much to increase the limit on taxpayer support for transit.
In July the LCC voted to recommend raising the limit by 78 per cent: from about $500,000 to $900,000. The change would see a residence assessed at $1 million go from potentially paying the Capital Regional District (CRD) $76 per year to $135. CRD Board approval was required.
Last week CRD director Gary Holman, who is one of five LCC members, amended the LCC recommendation to the CRD Board, reducing the hike to 25 per cent. LCC members now feel their authority has been undermined. But Holman points out they did not have that authority: provincial legislation requires CRD director approval of any service’s requisition increase of more than 25 per cent when voters have not been consulted.
Holman is not usurping power from the LCC. They don’t have it in the first place.
And it’s not that Holman doesn’t agree with raising local transit support by 78 per cent; he does. He’s just not comfortable doing so without meaningful public consultation or getting voter approval first. That sentiment is so respectful of his tax-burdened constituents that it’s almost quaint.
While LCC commissioner Brian Webster has previously stated that if islanders aren’t in favour of the increased levy they can vote for other commissioners in the next election, we’d prefer if that choice followed public debate about the issue during the fall 2026 election campaign. Candidates could defend their positions on transit funding, and voters could also be asked via an alternate approval process or referendum to vote on the proposal. Perhaps by then BC Transit and the CRD/LCC will have some data and reasons to justify the demand for such an increase in the near and later future.
Something else important to consider is that changing circumstances from BC Transit have taken the pressure off making a decision now. Transit staff have advised that no system improvements are going to take place on Salt Spring until 2028 at the earliest.
How much local taxpayers pay for a transit system should not be decided by either the LCC or the CRD director. It should be up to those paying the bill, and ideally we will get that choice in conjunction with the 2026 local elections.