The District 69 Swimming Pool Service Select Committee went through two marathon meetings before reaching a consensus on a fair tax apportionment method that will include Electoral Area E (Nanoose Bay).
There were two motions the committee endorsed and presented to the Regional District of Nanaimo board on June 14 for approval.
But before the board could vote, Area E director Bob Rogers made an amendment to the motion that a referendum be held with public engagement, at the involve level of participation within the board’s engagement policy, to amend the Regional District of Nanaimo District 69 Swimming Pool Service Establishment Bylaw No. 899, 1993 (Bylaw 899), to include Electoral Areas E, F, G, H, City of Parksville and Town of Qualicum Beach, based on an apportionment model of 1/3 assessment, 1/3 population, and 1/3 usage.
Rogers wanted to add that Electoral Area E’s participation in the swimming pool service be phased in at 20 per cent per year for five years from 2023 to 2027. He apologized for making the amendment that he based on the motion the RDN board approved last January that included a five-year phased in period.
“Given further reflection on the Dec. 7 discussions in the various options for then, I was remiss at the time in not opposing and indicating that I’d like to see this phased in over five years as per the board’s motion that was approved in January,” said Rogers.
City of Parksville director Ed Mayne opposed the amendment as he believed the motion approved by the select committee was a fair one.
“We spent two meetings talking about this,” Mayne said. “We went around the table at least a hundred million times … at least that’s what it felt like when we were having this conversations. We hammered out what I thought was the best solution. We took into consideration as much as we possibly could for Area E and gave up the other directors … actually conceded the fact of going to a referendum. There was a lot of concessions made here.”
READ MORE: Nanoose Bay residents to get a chance to speak, vote on taxes for Ravensong pool
Electoral Area H (Bowser, Horne Lake, Deep Bay, Qualicum Bay) Stuart McLean agreed with Mayne.
“We had five, almost six hours at the committee and this never came up once,” said McLean. “We discussed many different things and we did come to a unanimous decision.”
Town of Qualicum Beach director Brian Wiese called the late amendment unfair after going through a marathon discussion on the issue.
“We hammered every possible scenario and took into account everyone’s thoughts and feelings on the situation and we came out with a unanimous decision.”
Rogers said there have been a myriad of decisions and amendments made since the issue was first raised. And often, he pointed out, just like the RDN’s committee of the whole meetings and others, there is an opportunity for second thought and review of the motions and decisions achieved. And one of the components that was not discussed and included, he pointed out, was the five-year phased in period of 22 per cent annually the board approved earlier this year.
“While I apologize for it, I do not apologize for the fact that this is something important and of value, not just to Area E but I think to the whole board,” said Rogers.
The board voted against the amendment and endorsed the original motion. A second motion was also endorsed by the board, directing staff to prepare a report on the possibility of holding the referendum during the upcoming election on Oct. 15, 2022, as well as other options.