Hall Tax & First responders funding
Cortes Currents
English - August 26, 2020 14:58 - 1.29 MBNews cortes island discovery islands quadra food security energy indigenous nations Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District moved one step closer to implementing its decision to fund Cortes Island’s first responder program and two community halls at its Aug 19th board meeting.
Chair Michele Babchuk and the SRD’s Corporate Officer received authorization to sign five year agreements with both the Southern Cortes Community Association and Whaletown Community. Payments will be made in quarterly instalments.
The SRD Board also passed a bylaw to authorize entering into an agreement for the provision of first responder services on Cortes Island. According to Chris Walker, President of the Cortes Island Fire Fighters Association the next step will be to write up a service provision contract, draw up a schedule for training and a service start date, Once this is done, the fire department can formally request the release of funds.
Cortes Islanders voted in support of funding both programs from their taxes in the October 26, 2019, referendum, in which approximately 75% of respondents voted for a hall tax and 83% voted for first responders.
For more details, see Cortes Currents.ca