Ravensong Pool RDN Referendum

I have often wondered how it is that so little of my overall tax bill actually goes to QB town hall . Being part of the RDN means we have to contribute to services that are actually provided by the RDN. These include some of our recreational services such as the pool and the oceanside arena. These sharing agreements are fraught with issues of convenience, fair distribution of cost and value for your money. While it may be beneficial to consider the pool in context with all the RDN recreations services, it is a big topic, so I'm going to focus on the pool for now.

Why is it important to residents of QB?

The RDN is preparing for a referendum in early 2025 to seek taxpayer approval for the expansion of the pool with a total budget $36.4 million. This project is to be partially funded by borrowings of up to $30 million dollars, with a 20 year payback period. The referendum question will simply address the question of are you in favour of borrowing $30 million dollars for the expansion of the pool.

Only areas in the northern communities of the RDN (which includes QB) will be required to contribute. What concerns me is the proposed cost distribution which appears to be based on assessed values of our homes rather than the population able to use the facility. It is not my house that is using the pool but rather the people who live in it.

Based on the average home assessments, the proposal indicated the following taxation impacts:

Parksville residents could pay an additional $70.49 per year,

Qualicum Beach residents could pay an additional $122.48 per year,

Electoral area E ( Nanoose) could pay an additional $ 29.12 per year,

Electoral area F (Coombs) could pay an additional $92.80 per year,

Electoral area G (French Creek) could pay an additional $109.46 per year,

Electoral area H (Bowser) could pay an additional $ 60.86 per year,

These estimates are based on the average assessed values in each community and it is important to note the actual assessed value for many single family home owners may be considerably higher.

Given that the population of Parksville is approx. 14,000 and TQB population is about 9,300 I would have expected that our contribution would have been less. Also Bowser has a population of only 3800 and I doubt they would accept a tax increase of this size for a pool that is this far away. Why should apartment dwellers pay less than people in single family homes? I understand that assessed value is a common approach to taxation because it is easy. But why do we not treat this the same as sewer and water parcel fees where each household pays the same levy regardless of the assessed value of our homes? I also think the RDN should increase the user fees to at least a level that covers day to day operations of our recreation facilities. User fees capture everyone using the service not just homeowners. As communities continue to densify, the fairness or lack thereof, of using assessment based models becomes even more extreme.

I think we have some questions to ask of the RDN to help us understand:

• The rationale to support fairness in continuing the current distribution of these costs,

• What happens if all the areas do not vote in favour of the borrowing to facilitate the expansion, is it 50% of the population or 50% of each area?

• What happens at the end of the lease, (The land for the pool was originally provided by the Town of Qualicum Beach (TQB) to the RDN on a long term lease which expires in 2034.) Does the TQB intend to extend this lease at presumably $? for how long? Why is our contribution of the land not factored in to the ongoing cost distribution?

• What impact will the increased operating cost of an expanded pool facility have on tax payers. ($1,000,000 more in operating expense but only $100,000 more in operating revenues.)

• What property tax increase will be required to achieve the reserves required to fund the next upgrade or replacement.

I assume the RDN has done a "needs analysis" and wants this referendum to proceed to a positive result as they are spending $240,000 in taxpayer monies to conduct the referendum. I would like to see our elected RDN representative (our mayor) press the RDN for a very robust public outreach, so that residents in all affected areas have full information to make informed decisions. A quick answer on the referendum driven by incomplete information is likely to result in a big NO as taxpayers resent the ongoing property tax increases.

As a non user of both the pool and the arena, (and there are many of us), I am having a hard time justifying support for this expansion on the basis of the current information. On a stand alone basis, these proposed increases do not appear to be significant, but when combined with the 52% property tax increase from 2018 to 2023* and all the further increases we can expect for essential services (such as sewer plants, hospitals, libraries, transit, policing, fire protection and water services), it all adds up.

Marie Noel

Sept 23 2024

We welcome your comments and feedback.

You can email us at Qualicumbeachinsights@gmail.com

More background on how we got here.

The land for the pool was originally provided by the Town of Qualicum Beach (TQB) to the RDN on a long term lease which expires in 2034. The pool opened in 1995 using debt which was repaid in full in 2015.

The pool expansion timeline highlights: latest expansion plan (2018), Focus groups ( 2019), public survey and community open houses (2020), phased options and updated costs ( 2021), RDN gives direction for next stage of expansion (June2022), Sept 2023 RDN puts expansion on hold , January 2024 Parksville pool feasibility is abandoned due to cost, March 2024 old expansion plan revisited, October 22 2024 RDN approves referendum borrowing question.

Reference Material

RDN Pool Expansion web page https://www.getinvolved.rdn.ca/ravensongexpansion

RDN board meeting October 8 2024 video here ( starts at approx. 45:01)

RDN board meeting October 8 2024 meeting attachments (pool starts on page 38 )

RDN 2024-2028 financial plan div. and depart. (focus starts at page 44)

*Second Opinion article about increasing taxation over the past 5 years 2018 to 2023

"The property taxes of a typical home in QB have gone up from $2545 to $3871 representing a 52.1% increase". You can read the full article here.