At the District of Squamish's 2014 town hall budget meeting, there was one item on most residents' minds the Oceanfront.
Officials had initially forecast an 11.3 per cent tax increase for this year, district financial planning manager Christine Matthews told the audience on Wednesday, March 12. Council challenged municipal staff to come up with a zero per cent budget increase. That would have required chopping $1.3 million out of its piggy bank. Officials settled on a 5.14 per cent budget increase, with the staff having sliced $660,229 out of services across all departments, Matthews said.
We had to cut services and we had to increase some user fees, she said. This will have impacts on our customers.
Based on the average assessment, the owners of a single-family dwelling will see $127 jump in this year's property bill, while residential strata units can expect a $8 increase. Businesses will see a $264 bump in municipal taxes. The overall budget puts money into the district's future infrastructure coffers, while steering away from loans, Matthews said.
We are trying as much as possible to reduce our reliance on debt, she said.
That's the white elephant in the room, Squamish resident Auli Parviainen said. Currently the district is negotiating the sale of the 59-acre Oceanfront lands with Bethel Lands Corp. and Matthews Southwest Developments (MSW). If an agreement isn't reached by May 5, the district will face the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corp. loan's first principal payment of $3 million.
What is the actual plan for that if there is no deal made? Parviainen asked.
The first goal is to have a sale locked in place, Mayor Rob Kirkham said. If that doesn't occur, the district has internal reserves that will cover the loan payment, he said.
The district's ability to borrow money is based on its tax revenue, Coun. Doug Race said.
Municipalities are allowed to borrow up to 25 per cent of their tax revenue. Squamish has an internal policy to keep its borrowing rate at 20 per cent of its tax revenue, Race said. The district borrowing level currently sits at around nine per cent, he noted, adding if the entire SODC was added to the pot, it would jump to approximately 12 per cent.
The way it is going, it is not likely that the SODC deal will close by the end of May, Race said.
The district has $8 million in the bank from a sale of 20 acres of district-owned land in the Squamish Business Park to Solterra Acquisition Corp. in 2012, Race said, adding if needed to, it could put that money toward the SODC loan payment.
It is not a crisis, he said.
