TWELVE THINGS ABOUT SALT SPRING ISLAND
• This wouldn’t be the first go-round for Salt Spring incorporation. It first happened in 1873 and was reversed 10 years later. A referendum on incorporation in 2002 was rejected by 70 per cent of voters, but the issue has been under study again since 2012. • Salt Spring is the largest of 13 major Gulf Islands and 450 smaller islands, which have a total resident population of about 25,000 and an additional 10,000 non-resident property owners.
• Most land on the Gulf Islands is owned privately; the province owns 94 per cent of the rest of B.C.
• Salt Springers are a lot older than the rest of B.C. residents, with a median age of 53.2 compared to 41.9 years in the 2011 Census.
• Salt Spring property is worth a lot: In fact its total assessment of about $3 billion in 2015 outpaced 123 B.C. municipalities, including Sooke, Summerland and Salmon Arm.
• Almost all of Salt Spring Island’s assessment base — 96 per cent — comes from residential properties, and only four per cent from business properties.
• Despite its laid-back rep, half of Salt Spring residents — 5,065 in the 2006 Census — are working (employment data were not reported for this area in 2011) but two-thirds of jobs are parttime or seasonal.
• Even for full-time jobs, average earnings on Salt Spring are 12 per cent below the B.C. average. The median household income on Salt Spring in 2005 was $45,700 — about 13 per cent lower than the B.C. average.
• The five top occupations were construction with 660 jobs, retail at 530, accommodation and food at 480, and health care and social assistance at 460.
• One-third of all workers are selfemployed and one-quarter work from home, some at the more than 100 Internet-based businesses on Salt Spring.
• Statistics Canada did not identify tourism as an employment sector, but it’s a significant area that affects everything from accommodation to food, the arts, agriculture, wellness, retail, real estate and construction, with about half of Salt Spring businesses depending on tourism revenue or for settlement costs for people who move there after visiting.
• Nearly 300 farms operate on Salt Spring Island, with gross receipts of almost $4 million in 2011. That said, two-thirds of all farms have gross income under $10,000.
• B.C. provides policing through the RCMP, with residents paying a police tax that covers less than half the true cost. If Salt Spring incorporates, a municipality with more than 5,000 people contracting with the RCMP would be responsible for 70 per cent of the cost. Source: Preliminary Report of the Incorporation Study submitted by Urban Systems of Victoria.