Public to vote on park spending

Greater Victorians will be asked next year whether they’re willing to see tax dollars currently collected specifically to buy park land also used to build projects like trails, parking lots and washrooms.

The Capital Regional District’s park land acquisition levy introduced in 2000 and extended in 2010 is due to expire in 2019. CRD staff want to poll public opinion on whether it should be extended.

But they also want to test public opinion on using some of the money to open up to public use some of the acquired land now sitting in park reserve. It could be used to build park facilities such as washrooms and parking lots, and to repair and replace existing assets.

Some CRD directors, such as Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, said they’re worried the district runs the risk of jeopardizing public support for extending the fund if it starts using tax money earmarked for acquisition for general operations.

“I believe that the original intent of the parks acquisition fund should be retained and that suggesting to the public that we want to use it for normal budgetary purposes is not going to be constructive to getting this thing extended,” said Young, whose comments were echoed by Metchosin Mayor John Ranns.

But View Royal Mayor David Screech said the idea is not to make any change but simply to get public feedback.

“No final decisions are being made at this point and I’m certainly interested to hear what the public has to say on the topic of all this additional park land that we’ve added and how we’re going to look after it moving forward,” Screech said.

Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Director Mike Hicks agreed.

“It says [staff] will explore and confirm the public’s view on the land acquisition fund. So I guess we already know what they think or we can go out and ask them,” Hicks said.

Originally set at $10 per household, the now $20 per-household levy raises about $3.7 million a year. Over the past 16 years, it has enabled the CRD to contribute $36 million toward the purchase of more than 4,500 hectares of land valued at more than $52 million.

That extra land comes with extra costs. CRD parks spends about $3.92 million a year on capital projects. But CRD staff say that’s not enough to both build new facilities in parks and to repair and replace the existing assets.

CRD staff estimate there are $20 million in unfunded capital projects in regional parks.

Capital Regional District directors authorized staff to develop a consultation strategy that “explores and confirms the public’s views on the land acquisition fund and sources of funding for the development and renewal of park infrastructure and enhancement of parks and trails.”