Quality and Equitable Recreation Services

 Williams Lake, January 28, 2004 — “The Cariboo Regional District’s goal. is to provide quality services to the recreation users, while ensuring certainty and equitability to all residential taxpayers”, says CRD Director. Mary Glassford. “Establishing a funding arrangement bylaw is the first step toward ensuring the future of recreation services.”

 When the sub -regional recreation function was funded in 1988, it was agreed that industrial tax base would support the entire service, and that residential tax rates for city and rural residents would be the same. Unfortunately, the bylaw did not reflect the terms of that agreement. Over time, Quesnel Council has altered its taxation method while the Cariboo Regional District has kept the same taxation system. As a. result, non-city taxpayers currently pay twice as much as city taxpayers.

 “History repeats itself", adds Mary Glassford. “The City of Quesnel’s proposal does not bring any certainty or long-term fiscal responsibility. The establishment of tax rates would remain an annual decision-making process by Quesnel City Council, which is exactly how the current situation was created. It is simply unacceptable.”

The budget: of the sub-regional recreation function is administered by the Qnesnel Joint Planning Committee, which is composed of seven Council members and four Electoral Area Directors. Although the CRD Board has final authority on this service, the Board has never overturned a recommendation put forward by the Joint Planning Committee.

In its January 26, 2004 statement, Mayor Nate Bello states the sub-regional recreation service review’s purpose is “to propose a balanced approach to financing and look to creating more efficiencies in the operation” CRD Chairman Ted Armstrong says, “isn’t that the role of the City of Quesnel as the operations manager of the service? If the current operations do not have a balanced approach to financing and efficiencies, who is to blame?”

Chairman Armstrong concludes “we are disappointed City Council feels that discontinuing the current arrangement is the only way we can achieve our broader objective of quality and equitable recreation services We trust we will be able to work together during this transition period to minimize the impacts on recreation users and ensure the provision of high quality services,”