By Jessica Wallace
Kamloops This Week
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District is looking to improve public consultation around its budget process.
During a recent committee of the whole meeting, chief financial officer Doug Rae presented to the board on property tax class trends, which showed residential property assessments are increasingly the largest taxpayer category (70 per cent in 2022, up from 67 per cent in 2021.)
TNRD Area B director Stephen Quinn (Thompson-Headwaters) said the regional district should “go out to the people” to ask what it should be doing. He said when new ideas come along, the TNRD jumps on them.
“That costs money,” Quinn said.
Rae said public consultation is among his priorities following the BDO Canada forensic audit, which was ordered as a result of a KTW investigation into spending at the regional district under former CAO Sukh Gill.
Rae said it is also one of the reasons to request a new finance department staff member.
“I truly believe we need to do more public consultation around the budget,” he said. “It’s been a resource issue, along with COVID and that sort of thing, in recent years.”
Area J (Copper Desert Country) director Ronaye Elliott said consultation should occur within specific communities in the regional district. Area P director (Rivers and the Peaks) director Mel Rothenburger said centralizing meetings at the TNRD’s downtown Kamloops office did not work in the past. He said if the regional district can figure out a way to consult with the public, it should because it has been a “deficiency” in the budget process for a long time.
“Not because we wanted it that way, but because that’s the way it had to be,” he said, noting it takes time and resources to consult with communities.
Rae said public consultation for the budget is a requirement. In the past, he said, public consultation has occurred around specific services, such as libraries and solid waste, rather than the budget as a whole.
Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman said residents should be consulted on services and not questioned on whether taxes should rise or fall.
“I’ve never met a taxpayer who’s told me that their taxes need to go up,” he said.
Rae suggested the new communications department put together content to be distributed via social media, as well as at community meetings.
Other suggestions included online meetings and surveys.
Sun Peaks mayor Al Raine said the board should also be getting additional information to make decisions around the TNRD budget. He wants a report with detailed analysis of TNRD reserve accounts, anticipated reserve needs and service level increases.
“Then this board can make a proper decision as to how much money should be collected from the taxpayers this year,” Raine said, noting taxes should not increase unless the regional district provides services that people find to be worthwhile. “The real crunch for us as directors is how much more money do we need to raise next year and why.”
Rae told KTW a tax increase is expected and more information would be coming at a future TNRD meeting.
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