As both federal and provincial agencies continue to announce job cuts and other belt-tightening measures, finance-focused officials at the Islands Trust hope they can assure skeptical islanders — and fellow trustees — an upcoming tax increase here is necessary to keep the status quo.
The draft budget before the Financial Planning Committee (FPC) as of Wednesday, Jan. 21 had inched back up to $11.94 million; with the year’s property values now set by BC Assessment, staff said the Local Trust Area general tax increase had shifted to 13.9 per cent, with the increase in the Bowen Island general tax levy rising 31.1 per cent.
For an average property, according to financial and employee services director Julia Mobbs, that’s a roughly $55 to $60 increase per household within the Local Trust Areas — and $50 to $55 for Bowen Island taxpayers.
Notably, the bulk of those tax increases is tied to replacing external revenue streams — like lost grants, lost investment income and lost draws from surplus and reserves, according to Mobbs, who said even zero change in spending next year would still require a 7.1 per cent tax increase for Local Trust Areas to make up the difference.
“And 3.7 per cent of the tax increase is due to non-discretionary costs,” she added, “such as elections and changes to base staff wages.”
That left only 3.1 per cent, which she said was due to more discretionary spending and inflationary factors — very little “wiggle room,” as Lasqueti Island trustee Tim Peterson put it.
Trustees asked staff to prepare “speaking notes” summarizing that lack of flexibility, to help them illuminate the budget — not only to other trustees during budget discussions at the upcoming Trust Council Committee of the Whole meeting but also within their own communities. Trustees said they were already fielding questions from islanders about the wisdom of tax hikes in the current fiscal environment — even from taxpayers who said they deeply valued the organization’s mission.
Indeed, the Friends of the Gulf Islands Society’s delegation to the FPC Wednesday supported a letter, not only opposing any new staff positions — within either the Islands Trust or the Islands Trust Conservancy — but also urging budget increases be capped to the rate of inflation.
“This is a plea for fiscal discipline from this committee,” said society member Maxine Leichter. “We feel the Trust cannot just go on adding staff year after year, especially when we see no increase in actual protection of the Trust Area as the [Islands] Trust Act requires.”
Leichter noted the environmentally focused society was saddened by the likely cut of a planned full-time biologist for the Islands Trust — a critical new position, they argued, given the organization’s mandate — and said that loss represented a misalignment of priorities more than simply an outright lack of funds.
“I know it’s hard to abandon [projects] that so much money has gone into,” said Leichter, pointing to the Trust’s now six-figure groundwater sustainability strategy project as an example. “But sometimes it’s better to cut your losses before there are more.”
The Committee of the Whole meeting on the budget is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 and can be viewed online through the islandstrust.bc.ca website.