History damaged Snuneymuxw angered by B.C. Hydro work crews. Page 18 Creative mind Singer Corb Lund performs at Nanaimo’s Port Theatre. Page B1 Lions like CFL team takes a look at another V.I. Raiders player. Page 3
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THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013
www.nanaimobulletin.com
VOL. 25, NO. 4
P: 250.585.1648 3392 Norwell Drive
Councillors spar over proposed budget cuts Property tax-rate increase kept to 2.9 per cent, includes asset management, infrastructure fund By ToBy gorman THe NewS BULLeTiN
CHRIS BUSH/THe NewS BUlleTIN
Catchable size
Dan Ritchie, Nanaimo artist, ponders his next move on how best to balance his giant sculpture of a Dungeness crab during installation at Maffeo Sutton Park Wednesday. The 3.9 by 3 metre creation was carved from a single red cedar tree, coated with fibreglass and sanded to bring out colour and detail. It was among several artworks being installed on the waterfront for Public Art Week. For more, please see page 19.
Council decides fate of dams Monday By ToBy gorman THe NewS BULLeTiN
Proponents of saving the dams at Colliery Dam Park will have to wait a few more days before learning the fate of the structures they’ve been fighting to protect. Reports by two engineering firms – one by Klohn Crippen Berger, which is doing the work, and a peer review by Hatch Ltd. – were released May 2. Council officially received the new information on the project Monday, including cost estimates for seven different options that include
various combinations of removal, rebuilding and remediation for both dams, in front of a packed Shaw Auditorium with many in the audience wearing T-shirts in support of saving the dams. Removing both dams at a cost of $6.3 million is projected to be the least expensive option while remediating both dams with concrete reinforcement is the most expensive at $30.7 million. Rebuilding the dams would cost an estimated $11.2 million. Council has set aside $7 million in the 2013 budget to address the issue.
It will decide Monday (May 13) which option to proceed with. Tomorrow (May 10), the Colliery Dam Preservation Society hosts a public meeting at 6 p.m. at John Barsby Secondary School to allow residents to voice their concerns or opinions on the issue. Last October, the provincial Dam Safety Branch strongly recommended the city reduce the risk the dams and two lakes pose to the community in the Chase River flood plain below in the event of an earthquake or extreme rainfall event. reporter2@nanaimobulletin.com
Finger pointing and verbal jabs signalled boiled-over frustration Monday night as Nanaimo city council sparred over proposed budget cuts and their potential impact on staffing and services. Late last month, councillors Bill Bestwick, Jim Kipp and Bill McKay surprised their council colleagues with a vague list of cuts they recommended to reduce the city’s 2013 annual operating budget to a zero-per cent increase. Those cutbacks included reducing protective services by $550,000; trimming $250,000 each from the Reservoir No. 1 and water treatment projects; reducing the parks, recreation and culture budget by $400,000 and eliminating $100,000 from a new spray park; reducing the strategic relations department by $125,000 and reviewing efficiencies in the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation; reducing $100,000 from the purchasing department; reducing corporate services by $100,000 and reducing management staff benefits by $75,000; cutting back the human resources department by $75,000 and reducing mayor, council and excluded staff base salaries by one per cent; and eliminating the $1.4 million Boxwood connector project. All of the $2.2 million in pro-
posed cuts were voted down, though council did vote to find $4,000 in savings from the now defunct athletic commission and another $50,000 from parks maintenance standards, which means grass and other regular maintenance will be done less frequently in local parks and play fields. “We’ve got a $175-million budget and we can’t find $2.2 million in efficiencies?” asked an exasperated Kipp. “The arguments against this aren’t real.” Coun. George Anderson repeatedly pointed out flaws in the three councillors’ proposals, including cuts to the spray park, which is already 80 per cent complete, and the nixing of the Boxwood connector project, for which the city has already spent $2 million to purchase properties and another $200,000 for design work. That project is also paid for through development cost charges, not property taxes. Another recommendation to take $250,000 from the sale of a city-owned property on Dufferin Crescent to the tax base was withdrawn because it’s illegal. Bestwick, Kipp and McKay were also criticized for being disruptive to the financial plan budget process after trying to amend their own motion to not include their proposed cuts for discussion, which other councillors and staff had spent the last two weeks studying. u See ‘SPECIAL’ /4
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