By Tiffany Goodwein

GVAC approves parks, recreation and culture budget

Jan 10, 2020 | 5:40 AM

The Greater Vernon Advisory Committee approved the 2020 parks, recreation and culture budget, and it appears Greater Vernon residents will be handing over a little more cash.

The approved budget will have a 2.55 per cent tax impact on the average taxpayer which is slightly above inflation at 2.2 per cent.

Some of the highlights include $200,000 in capital spending for continuing renovations at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre. Over half of the funds, $125,000 will be spent to replace the carpet at the lobby and house floors. New lighting upgrades will cost $45,000, and $30,000 is earmarked for a security enclosure at the main volunteer door, following safety concerns.

“We are actually finding that these are perfect little places for people to be sleeping, and it has become a really big issue for the hundreds of volunteers that tend to be of an older demographic after they come out of performances,” Tannis Nelson, RDNO manager of community services said.

Last year $302,000 was spent on the Performing Arts Centre to replace the stage floor and entrance door. Money was also distributed for repairs to exterior damage to the building caused by pesky flicker birds. A chiller compressor rebuild contributed a $75,000 portion to last year’s capital costs.

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The total 2020 budget for the centre—including operations costs is $1,528,925 down from last year’s $1,674,541 budget.

The amount of money generated from residents in Coldstream and Electoral Areas B and C that is used to help fund Greater Vernon Recreation facilities has been approved to increase 1.9 per cent, but residents could be in for a much larger contribution in the near future.

According to a staff report, the City of Vernon has approached GVAC and the District of Coldstream to request a 9.4 per cent increase in its annual contribution to help fund the proposed aquatic centre.

A number of grant change requests were also approved to local art organizations, but not without sparking a discussion. Board members were stuck at whether to grant the Vernon Public Art Gallery’s $9,635 request to mitigate the impacts of the minimum wage hike.

Electoral area B director Bob Fleming said the Vernon Public Art Gallery’s request looked like an extension of their operations fund and pointed out that the Greater Vernon Advisory committee is supposed to focus on funding facilities.

Chair of the committee, Akbal Mund, agreed and questioned if approving the funds would encourage other community groups to make the same request.

“Minimum wage is going to go up in June, minimum wage is supposed to go up again next year as well, so are we going to set a precedent here for every other community group that’s out there and gets grants from us?” Mund said.

Tannis Nelson, RDNO’s manger of community services, called the minimum wage funds ‘a slippery slope’.

“Not all of the organizations asked this. I’d say our relationship with the organizations with owned facilities, the museum, the art gallery, our community art and culture institutions, and the art centre are different than other organizations so I wouldn’t suggest extending this to other organizations,” Nelson said.

Despite the explicit warning from staff, the committee voted to support the $9,000 request. But they denied an additional $12,000 request to fund the employer’s portion of the pension plan.

During four-hour budget deliberations, funds were also approved to support a dock upgrade near the Okanagan Rail Trail, the Kal Crystal Waters Trail Loop and for an engineering assessment for lighting along the Okanagan Rail Trail and Hwy 97.

Debt refinancing provided $103,000 in unanticipated savings. The Caetani Centre received $15,000 for an assessment and $41,000 went towards the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre. The remaining $47,000 will go towards the cultural centre reserve fund.

In B.C., regional districts cannot directly tax properties. Instead regional districts prepare a tax requisition and notify member municipalities, such as the City of Vernon, or the Provincial Surveyor of Taxes for rural electoral areas, to tax on behalf of the district. Aside from providing funding for parks, recreation, and culture, The Regional District of the North Okanagan is also responsible for water, waste disposal, emergency management, and other duties.

by Tiffany Goodwein

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