From the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney
Warm greetings to residents of the Discovery Islands and Mainland Inlets, where the annual tree frog choir has begun its serenade.
Support Service Cost Allocations
As you may have gathered from local media reports, the February Board meeting was a little unusual. During the February 19th Board meeting we got only to agenda item four, where we stalled for the remainder of the meeting. Item four was a report titled “Support Service Cost Allocations”.
Support service costs are costs which cannot be directly allocated to a particular Service and therefore need to be allocated in another way. The 28-page Cost Allocations report provided a high-level look at the distribution of these costs in select other regional districts and compared them to the SRD. Support service costs stem from 11 categories, including administration & financial services staff, human resources, & IT. You can read the cost allocations report here: bit.ly/SRDSupportCostsReport.
In January, the Board amended the financial plan (aka budget) and moved that it be brought back for consideration at the February 19 Board meeting. In a surprising turn, the financial plan was not on the February agenda, but the Cost Allocations report was. And while the Board discussed the financial plan at the December and January meetings, February 19 was when we first learned that Campbell River Directors had concerns with the support cost allocations aspect of the budget.
Weighted vote in financial matters
There are 14 Directors at the Board who each have an equal vote in general corporate matters and services which they are a part of. The exception is financial matters, which are subject to a ‘weighted vote’ based on population. So, when it comes to voting on the financial plan, the five Campbell River Directors hold enough weight that they can move changes to the financial plan and push them through.
Support Service Cost Policy & Committee of the Whole
The SRD has a policy on support service cost allocations which was adopted in 2010 (the policy is included in the report linked above). Reviewing the support service cost allocation policy requires thoughtful analysis of all the factors involved: thankfully the Board voted to defer this report to a fulsome discussion at the Committee of the Whole. The Committee of the Whole includes all Directors — Wikipedia says its purpose is ‘to relax the usual limits on debate, allowing a more open exchange of views without the urgency of a final vote’.
It remains to be seen if a Committee of the Whole meeting will be scheduled prior to the March 26 Board meeting, and further, what may develop March 26. One thing is likely, that March 26th will be a lengthy Board meeting. There were 32 items on the February agenda which the Board did not consider, they were all deferred to the March meeting.
Potential impacts
I’m writing about this because these support cost allocations could have an impact on the 2025 tax requisition in Electoral Areas, and to add context to published articles. However, the requisition impact is currently unknown, which is why this report may sound unsuitably vague. Potential tax changes depend on if Campbell River Directors follow through on statements made during the February Board meeting, when Director Dahl stated that March 26 he would be moving to reduce $1.3 million in requisition from Campbell River ‘and then you can figure it out’.
Financial Plan
Here are a few of many numbers in the draft financial plan: the SRD’s 2025 Operating Budget projects total revenue of $38,188,872; $20,326,281 of this is from taxation. The ‘support service’ costs under discussion are $2,868,743. For those who are curious and want to examine the current draft financial plan, you can find it here: bit.ly/SRD2025DraftBudget
There is a deadline for the Board to adopt the financial plan: Regional Districts are required to submit adopted financial plans to the Province by March 31 of every year. Because the financial plan hasn’t yet been adopted, it continues to be open for public input. Constituents are welcome to share comments with the SRD’s Corporate Services Office by emailing them to [email protected].
Connect
Thanks for reading! You’re welcome to connect with questions or concerns: you can email [email protected], or call 250.203.2468. If you’d like to chat in person, you can book an in-person meeting at calendly.com/robynmawhinney… my next office day is March 21.
Until next time,
Respectfully,
Director Robyn Mawhinney
PS: local media reports on the support service cost allocations issue include this item from Cortes Currents & this item from the Campbell River Mirror.