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VOL. 27, NO. 72
Higher enrolment leads to deficit
Fire chief takes helm in Lantzville BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM
I
THE NEWS BULLETIN
To get to know the community, you have to be in the heart of it, says Lantzville fire chief Rob Chatton. Chatton took the reins from outgoing fire chief Tom Whipps last week, becoming the department’s first-ever paid parttime fire chief. He is no stranger to volunteer fire departments, most recently as assistant fire chief in Pitt Meadows. He sees his first tasks in Lantzville as getting to know his members and the operations, as well as helping to determine the level of fire service for the community and the training needed under a new B.C. training playbook. It’s a neat feeling to be the first paid fire chief, said Chatton, who sees it as taking the department to the next step. While a lot of the work will be administrative, it will also free members’ time to look after training, calls and equipment. But what he’s looking forward to most is getting back to a sense of community. See ‘LANTZVILLE’ /5
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DISTRICT PLANS to use surplus to cover expenses. BY KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
KARL YU/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Studying science
Lukas Whaley views some slides through a microscope at the Kids Conference. The Vancouver Island Conference Centre put on the inaugural Kids Conference on Saturday in order to educate parents and children about resources available in the community. Families had the opportunity to check out science exhibits at the Nanaimo Science and Sustainability Society area and the back of a Nanaimo RCMP police car, among other activities.
The Nanaimo school district is planning to use financial surplus money to offset an anticipated operating loss of close to $1.6 million due to higher than expected enrolment. Preliminary enrolment numbers for the school year were about 13,089 full-time equivalent students. Graham Roberts, school district secretarytreasurer, said because there were about 130 more students than projected, the funding allotment from the B.C. Ministry of Education increased by $348,558. International student enrolment numbers also rose to 297 from a projected 245 and because of that, the district received $730,000 in funding. To account for this, the number of teaching staff rose by close to five fulltime equivalent positions, while educational assistants rose by close to 12 full-time equivalents. Roberts said the costs of extra staffing exceed the increase in funding. According to a presentation made at the business committee meeting on Wednesday, the prelimi-
nary budget for 2015-16 had total teacher salaries pegged at $54,932,528, but with the increase in staffing is now expected to reach $55,298,783. An amended budget is expected next month. The district has a surplus of $5 million from previous years, which will be used to mitigate the operating loss, said Roberts. “In our operating fund, we’re running an operating loss of just under $1.6 million, which is being funded out of our prior year’s surpluses. At the end of the year, if things go as we anticipate, our surpluses instead of being around $5 million, will be about $3.5 million,” said Roberts. He said the district is no longer under funding protection from the ministry, which is additional money doled out to districts to “ensure that districts are protected against any funding decline larger than 1.5 per cent when compared to the previous autumn,” according to the ministry. “It’s very complicated,” Roberts said. “Generally I think it’s good news for the district because it’s actually easier to plan, because we will receive funding for our actual students that are enrolled. It means less need for building contingencies because with each additional student we will be funded for them.” reporter@nanaimobulletin.com