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Politics

SRD Considering a Grant-In Aid Policy; Directors Mawhinney, Whalley and Vonesch opposed

The Strathcona Regional District Board SRD is considering amending the Grant in Aid process. A proposed ‘Financial Assistance to Organizations’ policy from 2021 is being considered. Regional Directors Gerald Whalley from Area A, Robyn Mawhinney from Area C and Mark Vonesch from Area B (Cortes Island) voted in opposition, but were defeated.  

The associated staff report refers to a recent grant in aid to the Cortes Island School, questions the relationship between the school and Parent Advisory Council and asks whether the funds being requested should actually have come from School District 72.  

The policy brought forward in 2021 proposed that in the future: 

  • Applications must be submitted directly to the SRD’s Financial Officer.
  • Only registered non-profits can apply.
  • The funds are not to be used for core funding, operating costs, wages, insurance or multi-year funding etc.
  • Applicants must include a written statement indicating how the grant-in-aid will benefit the community.
  • The board will give preference to applications that do not exceed $5,000.
Map of SRD – courtesy SRD website

Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney, of Area C, spoke in opposition:

“I’m satisfied with the current model.  I think that the proposed policy that is included as a draft from 2021, does not benefit Area C constituents as it would deny applications for support with insurance fees, which can be a significant item for small organizations,  and the policy also denies support for groups which are not registered not-for-profits.  

“Apart from the repercussions this could create in area C. It made me wonder about more loosely organized events looking for support, such as the Campbell River Canada Group, which we supported with fireworks funding earlier this year, so I’m supportive of option B, leaving the grant and aid working as it currently is.” 

Regional Director Gerald Whalley moved, “That the matter of policy for considering grants and aid not be pursued at this time.”

Campbell River Director Susan Sinnott explained, “The city of Campbell has got a substantial confusion in terms of how much money we’re spending for various things like permissive tax exemptions, grants and aids and where we sit relative to other communities, including the funding source right now, where it’s tied to the percentage of revenue of the city’s tax base, which continue means it’s growing, which I don’t know if that’s an acceptable use of tax dollars. In our current policy, do we have it tied to a particular funding amount, or is it just set at each budget amount?” 

Chief Administrative Officer (CAD) David Leith replied, “It’s set by the directors at the one on one meetings. We haven’t any real policy in terms of it or any guidelines or any limitations on the amount of money set in the budget?”

Susan Sinnott: “Correct. So in addition, I know that there’s sensitivities about granting money to businesses because of the limitations under our governing legislation. So we have to be very careful about where you’re sending the money. I know we’ve had a few sort of difficult situations where we’ve had to find alternate funding sources.”

“In addition,  at the city, we have  the discussion of how much staff time, how much our time is being put into small amounts, how much you can defer down to staff, how much we want to align the granting to our actual strategic priorities set by the board or set by the EAs separately, and how we can make sure that we’re actually achieving our goals and accounting for that.”

“I think the current policy does need work. So I will vote against the amendment. I would rather we do an investigation, subject to staff capacity, and time frames that they can report back to us.    I’ll make a motion that policy be brought forward for further consideration by the board and perhaps a report beforehand or maybe we do it in the committee the whole session to have a discussion of what the objectives are of such a policy before staff go to a great little bunch of work.” 

Robyn Mawhinney: “When the staff is considering the report, it would be relevant to, include the fact that there are two separate  grant and aid pots, or actually five, because each electoral area organizes  or, budgets  for their own grant and aid depending on  the needs of their  electoral area, but we also have a regional grant and aid funding and I think maybe that’s maybe where we need to also concentrate.  Maybe they need to have separate policies?”

CAO Leitch: “The funding comes from different sources, but ultimately, I would say the liability or the consequences of what Director Senate is talking about lies with the board.” 

Screenshot from Minutes

Director Whalley’s motion that the matter of a policy for considering grants in aid not be pursued at this time was defeated, with all Directors except Whalley, Mawhinney and Vonsech voting in opposition. 

A motion that the 2021 policy guide be brought forward for further consideration was passed, with Directors Whalley, Mawhinney and Vonsech voting in opposition.

Links of Interest:

Top image credit: Image taken from the Electoral Areas page on the SRD website

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