Where did Area C's tax dollars go in 2021?

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Electoral Area C is the largest electoral area within the Strathcona Regional District. It spreads out over 10,650 square kilometres: from Quadra to Read, East and West Redonda Islands, East and West Thurlow Islands, Hardwick Island and some of the Mainland Inlets. In the second of five articles arising from the SRD Board meeting of Feb 9th, 2022, Cortes Currents is looking at how the tax dollars from this area were spent in 2021.

There has been an explosion of real estate values.

As SRD Chief Financial Officer Mike Harmston explained, homeowners “are willing to pay 30%, or 40%, or 50% more. That’s what’s causing the shift in the assessments.”

Regional Director Jim Abram pointed out that this rise does not necessarily reflect sales in your area:

“Right on my tax assessment bill this year it says there have been no sales of a property similar to yours in the last three years. So this is politics in Paris, used to be really more. They're just grabbing straws out of the air.”

The good news is that while housing prices have been going up, tax assessments per $100,000 have been going down.

The SRD’s component of the average property tax bill dipped about $10 in 2021 and is expected go up about $30 in 2022.

This total does not include money for the fire department, police, schools, hospitals etc, which other authorities levy through property taxes.

The wharves at Owen Bay on on Sonora Island, Port Neville on the Mainland and Surge Narrows on Read Island appear in the SRD’s books, but along with a notation that “operating costs for wharves are currently funded by Transport Canada divestiture funds.” The segment of the chart that would normally display tax requisitions for these projects displays a zero.

Close to two thirds of the tax revenues under the SRD’s control goes to corporate, regional or electoral area services.

The biggest ticket items in these categories are:
A little over $204,000 for electoral Area administration
$172,000 for planning
$167,000 for the Vancouver Island Public Library
$83,000 for corporate administration and general government

Some other items of interest:
$41,000 for 911 Emergency Answering Service
$29,000 Strathcona Emergency Service
$27,000 towards Regional Broadband

Roughly a third of SRD’s tax requisitions in this area are actually listed under ‘Area C.’

The two largest entires in this category are:
$190,000 for Parks
$175,000 for the Quadra Community Hall

Area C also has a Grant in Aid budget of close to $41,000 a year, but has sufficient surplus from previous years to cover 2022.

You have been listening to an overview of how property taxes are spent within Area C, especially as pertains to sums under the control of the Strathcona Regional district.