Consequences of not amalgamating

After 10 years as Mayor of West Kelowna, Doug Findlater is stepping down. Perhaps, now is a good time to reflect upon the consequences of the decision some 10 years ago by residents of that community to reject an option of amalgamating with Kelowna.

By voting to remain a separate entity, the residents of West Kelowna committed themselves to supporting a duplicate set of administrative services from a city manager to financial, planning and parks departments. Qualified senior managers to head these operations do not come cheap.

Moreover, West Kelowna’s municipal boundaries include a large part of the Westbank First Nation’s property that could not be included in the municipal tax base. Indeed the tax base, particularly that part composed of commercial property, was then and continues to be quite limited. Financing capital expenditures, therefore, has been highly dependent upon fees charged to developers for their projects throughout the young municipality’s history.

The limited tax base was one of the reasons that West Kelowna’s council wanted to finance the building of a new municipal building by borrowing most of the funds needed. In a referendum on the question of the required loan, the proposition was rejected. Council has yet to decide what to do about municipal building needs.

This spring, the new provincial government proposed a tax on residential properties whose owners are neither resident nor renting out the dwelling; development activity has since slowed appreciably. West Kelowna Council petitioned the provincial government for relief but that has not been forthcoming. Consequently many capital projects are being reduced in scope.

There are some serious limitations in the current governing structure in the Central Okanagan. Creating a government to serve a small population base, as in the case of West Kelowna, necessarily limits the number of people both willing and able to serve on Council. And while the Regional Planning District (and its governing board made up of councillors from each of the member municipalities) is aimed at facilitating co-operation among local municipalities in dealing with issues of common concern, its power is limited and it often adds delays to decision-making.

Thus, an amalgamation of Kelowna, Lake Country, West Kelowna, and Peachland makes a great deal of sense in terms of limiting the expense of municipal government while improving planning, development and efforts to attract new business.

Of course, such a move would be staunchly opposed by those likely to be adversely impacted by an amalgamation. You can easily list who they might be: officials of all the municipal governments — including politicians who might lose their seats — and some of those contracting with some or all of the governments involved to provide advice and services.

The provincial government might be opposed to an amalgamation fearing that such a large political entity could have inordinate influence in the political life of the province. That certainly was the fear of the previous Liberal government.

But the citizens in all four jurisdictions would stand to benefit both in the short- and long-term from better, less expensive government with more effective planning, as well as development of transit and sewer and water services. In addition, the expense of major capital projects such as a new regional concert hall, capital upgrades for fire protection and major road developments would be spread out over a larger tax base.

It is an idea worth studying in an impartial way. Perhaps the Central Okanagan Foundation could sponsor such a study.

There is one feature of West Kelowna’s governance that any local or regional council should emulate. As Ron Seymour recently pointed out in this newspaper, councillors in West Kelowna question their officials on their recommendations, while a large number of councillors in Kelowna seldom do.

Of course, to ask good questions you have to have read about and understand the issues brought before council. In West Kelowna, officials are held accountable.

That’s a pretty good legacy for Mayor Findlater.

David Bond is a retired bank economist who resides in Kelowna. This column appears Tuesdays.