Bylaw oversight could starve Kaleden amenities
Some public amenities in Kaleden could go untended this summer if an administrative oversight isn’t corrected in a hurry, local politicians heard this week
The problem stems from the outdated bylaw under which the Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen taxes the approximately 1,200 residents of the community south of Penticton for recreation programming and facility maintenance.
As written, the bylaw caps the maximum requisition at approximately $49,000 annually, but the RDOS has been exceeding that limit for years; it collected $180,000 in 2020 alone.
The discrepancy only came to light last fall as the RDOS sought to raise the cap in anticipation of purchasing new park land in Kaleden.
The land purchase fell through, but the bylaw still needs to be amended to lift raise the cap to match the budget. And because it’s such a large increase, the proposed change has attracted the attention of the B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
“They’ve asked us for some additional information, and then the inspector of municipalities can determine if we can go forward without elector assent,” Bill Newell, the RDOS chief administrative officer, told the board at its meeting Thursday.
While that’s not cause for concern on its own, the pressing need to approve the 2021 RDOS budget is.
Newell said the budget is set to be adopted March 18, and if the cap for Kaleden recreation services isn’t lifted by then, the RDOS may have to cut drastically cut spending to get into compliance with the bylaw.
“So that would probably pay the insurance costs and some of the other fixed costs, but there would be no other money to maintain the facilities or the parks or the waterfront or the wharf, all of which is now resident within that service,” said Newell.
Subrina Monteith, who represents Kaleden on the RDOS board, said the issue has generated considerable debate in the community and deserves proper public consultation before March 18.
“We’re assuming what (residents) want,” said Monteith, “and I’m hesitant to do that.”