October 11

October 11

With only a few gathering to welcome Local Community Commissioners Ben Corno and Earl Rook, this ASK Salt Spring conversation was casual. This informal format allowed participants to get to know these two Local Commissioners, better understanding their perspectives on a wide range of issues. 

Chair Earl Rook offered us our Territorial Acknowledgment. He began by telling us about a recent play he attended at ArtSpring, “Much Ado About Nothing,” that explored the too-frequent hollowness of our Territorial Acknowledgements. Earl acknowledged Islands Trust Local Chair Tim Peterson for his recent heartfelt Acknowledgement, committing himself to avoid rote and rehearsed acknowledgements. 

Noting that the new Penelakut Chief Pam Jack had also attended this recent Local Islands Trust meeting, Earl asked us to think about this stolen land on which we live. He lamented that settlers buying land are seldom told about the First Nations that were here first. When he and his partner purchased their property on Salt Spring, they had no idea that this property included a registered archeological site. Hoping that buyers will be better informed in the future, he also acknowledged that our recognition of those who came before us is far better than United States settlers who seldom give First Nations even a thought. 

A participant replied that he had spent the past decade grappling with Reconciliation and unlearning some hurtful myths from his childhood and youth. With two Metis daughters, he is making progress but still struggles with lingering hurtful assumptions from unforgiving past decades.  

When asked what “excites and delights” them. Earl began with his pleasure that the Local Community Commission (LCC) seems to be successfully bringing attention to a wide range of community issues that were previously not addressed in open, democratic deliberations. While the extent of the impact of the LCC during its first term is still to be determined, he is optimistic about its ability to address and resolve a wide variety of those service issues most important to Salt Springers. Ben is enjoying learning more and more about the complexities of CRD, aware of how much he needs to learn but enthusiastic about constantly growing in his role. 

The conversation began with the CRD 2025 Provisional Budget, approved by Local Commissioners in a split vote after nine hours of deliberations at the September meeting. Earl expressed his hope that these months before final approval of the budget will generate much local interest as well as suggestions, pointing out that while the provisional budget is largely prepared by staff based upon history, projections, and standard calculations, the final budget is intended to reflect public input and deliberation.* Even though there are millions of dollars on the table, both Ben and Earl fear that Salt Springers do not seem interested in time for changes to be made, likely to only react when they get their tax bill in June. 

*This final approval of the 2025 CRD Budget is expected to occur at a January LCC meeting, either the January 9, beginning at 5:00 pm or January 16, beginning at 9:00 am. (These meetings are held in the SIMS, former Middle School, Boardroom.) 

Suggestions? Please send them to saltspring@crd.bc.ca. All Local Commissioners will receive this mail. If you want to contact your Local Commissioners individually, they can be reached at:

• Chair Earl Rook, erook@crd.bc.ca,
• Brian Webster, bwebster@crd.bc.ca,
• Ben Corno, bcorno@crd.bc.ca,
• Gary Holman, directorssi@crd.bc.ca, and 
• Gayle Baker, gbaker@crd.bc.ca. 

 Ben likened our budget process to a “Price is Right” TV show with the audience randomly shouting prices. He mused about all those who are not yelling at us about their needs. Are we hearing from all Salt Springers or only those who shout the loudest? 

A participant asked Ben and Earl to explain how a CRD budget that, for many years, hovered around a 5-8% increase is suddenly at an estimated 12% increase. Reminding Local Commissioners that this increase will severely strain the budgets of those living from paycheck to paycheck, this participant asked whether we should consider a graduated tax in which our wealthier residents pay a higher percentage. 

We learned from Ben and Earl that, with the exception of the pool reopening on Sundays and some increase in recreational programming at SIMS, service delivery has not been significantly increased. Many of these increases, instead, stem from unavoidable costs such as union-negotiated salary increases of approximately 4.5% as well as skyrocketing costs for supplies, insurance, and other service essentials. 

Earl reminded us that many of the LCC expenditures, such as those for our transit system, serve a small percentage of our community but are very important to their users. This is the same for our pool, recreation programs, and playing fields

But, in addition to higher costs of providing our bus service, funding the Library, operating our expensive pool, and maintaining our parks, the past few years has also seen a significant increase in facilities managed by the LCC. A few of these include: 

• SIMS (Saltspring Island Multi-Space, the former Middle School) that, with a lease paid to School District 64, higher than expected operating costs, and a taxpayer subsidy to allow nonprofits to rent at a below market rate, is costing well over $200,000 a year. 
• Ganges Firehall, expected to be in community hands by the end of 2025, will require significant expenditures. This year, $50,000 was budgeted for initial building assessment and community engagement, only a small portion of expected future financial needs for this site.
• Former Phoenix School Site, about to be leased by the LCC for community use, is expected to cost $47,000 this year while it temporarily houses PARC maintenance during construction of the Kanaka maintenance/bus storage facility. While Local Commissioners have every hope of generating rent in 2025 to reduce this cost, staff are doubtful that this can be done without additional expenditures. Ben and Earl spoke briefly about the first discussion of the use of this site at the recent October 10 LCC meeting. 
• These are only a few community resources that have been added in the past few years. 

Ben expressed his concern that we simply do not have the information to know where, if anywhere, cost savings could be identified. Without operational details, clearly the responsibility of staff, we simply cannot know if maintenance costs for, say, Drummond Park, are higher than warranted. While Local Commissioners can ask about specific expenditures, their role is generally limited to setting staff budget limits.

Ben and Earl then told us of some large CRD regional expenses for which we are responsible. Over the years, Salt Spring taxpayers have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to CRD Regional Parks with very limited local benefit. While this required service does create well used trails, including the Galloping Goose and Lockside, Salt Spring has to date received little to fund much-needed trails here. (Some funding is expected to be allocated in the next few years to contribute to the proposed Salish Sea Trail.) 

Expecting to be charged over $600,000 for CRD Regional Parks again this year, it was a bitter pill for Local Commissioners that, despite their clear message that Salt Spring did not want to be included, we will also be required to pay for a new CRD Transportation Service. With expectations that this could eventually cost as much as an additional $300,000 a year, again, with little local benefit, this tax burden for Regional Parks/Transportation is not popular with Local Commissioners. 

One participant asked: So. . . do we need to ask whether the largely urban CRD is the best regional district for us? With our small tax base, can we be expected to keep up with our urban neighbours with their far larger revenues? In Earl’s opinion, the CRD is not a good fit for Salt Spring. Having come from a very large bureaucracy, he understands the complexity and risk aversion of urban bureaucracies. With a far larger tax base, these urban areas can fund expanding, expensive bureaucracies as well as increasingly costly projects. He is concerned that Salt Spring cannot keep pace with these rapidly increasing urban costs. 

Would another Regional District be a better fit for Salt Spring? What about Cowichan Valley Regional District (https://www.cvrd.ca/)? What about a Southern Gulf/Salt Spring Island-only option? How about the Islands and rural North Saanich? While everyone in the room realized that this is a very complicated discussion with daunting entanglements, the ideas for a better fit for Salt Spring flew. While an enticing conversation, Ben told us that he would need details about the possibilities of such a shift before he could get too excited. Interested? You may want to begin here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/incorporation-restructuring/restructure-planning-process/regional-district-restructure)

Time together flew, and it was soon nearly 1:00. Called the “Fabulous Five” by one participant, he asked how we could ensure such hardworking Local Commissioners be elected in the next term, beginning in late 2026. Ben replied that, constantly learning, if he decided not to run again, he would share his experiences, defining the skills, abilities, and attitudes he believes are most important for Salt Spring Local Community Commissioners. 

As Ben, Earl, and participants packed up and got ready to leave, they were thanked for bringing significant improvements to our local governance and lauded for their hard work, tenacity in the face of challenges, and vision for an ever better Salt Spring. (Thanks, Ben and Earl!) 

Just in case you are interested. . . .Notes were taken at this gathering by Julie Thompson (thanks, Julie!) Using these notes, this report has been written by Gayle Baker, Ph. D., founder of ASK Salt Spring, currently also a Salt Spring Local Community Commissioner. This report has also been edited by this week’s special guests, Earl and Ben.