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Squamish Council mixed on money-raising ideas

In response to the budget crunch, the District of Squamish council weighed a number of different recommendations put forward by the Finance Standing Committee at Tuesday's meeting with a mixed response.

In response to the budget crunch, the District of Squamish council weighed a number of different recommendations put forward by the Finance Standing Committee at Tuesday's meeting with a mixed response.

Council was unanimously in favour of directing staff to investigate ways to accommodate advertising in bus shelters, but stumbled over the second item - investigating sponsorship opportunities through the renaming of the Squamish Adventure Centre.

"We haven't had the conversation to decide whether that's a direction we want to go in," said councillor Patricia Heintzman. "If council chooses that we want to sell the naming of the adventure centre to a sponsor it's one thing... now we're directing staff to do it without that conversation."

She also suggested that they bring it up at the town hall next week to hear from the public.

Councillor Corinne Lonsdale noted that it wasn't a new recommendation, but was part of a previous study that was never brought back to council for consideration. She added that the recommendation was for staff to look at the idea and the study and nothing more. "I reiterate that (the recommendation) says investigate and nothing more," she said.

Councillor Bryan Raiser was uncomfortable spending any time on the idea, but said it should be part of a larger conversation about the adventure centre and how it will operate.

Councillor Paul Lalli, who sits on the finance committee, said they wanted staff to look at the idea before bringing it up at a town hall so they would have all the facts, while Mayor Greg Gardner supported the recommendation on the grounds that it called for an investigation rather than a decision one way or the other. "There may be a bit of urgency here as there may be a possibility for more revenues if we do it pre-2010 (Games)," said Gardner.

Raiser and Heinztman were the lone votes against forwarding the recommendation to staff, as it passed 4-2. Councillor Rob Kirkham was absent for the meeting.

The next recommendation was to bring the sponsorship idea to the next Committee of the Whole meeting for discussion, which passed unanimously.

Another recommendation to move the 2010 budget process ahead through a special Committee of the Whole meeting, and to conduct one survey and two Town Hall meetings on the budget also passed, but with a few concerns from Councillors.

"(The recommendation) doesn't set a time, but this needs to happen really because if we want a (draft) budget by December 15 then staff will have to have our input right about now," said Lonsdale.

Gardner acknowledged that there was no date, but said his understanding was that the meeting to identify priorities would happen in July.

Councillors wanted an early budget last year, after having less than a month to hammer out a compromise between a budget from staff that would have resulted in a 17.5 per cent tax increase, and a recommendation from the finance committee to cut the budget by four per cent over the previous year. After weeks of intensive meetings, they introduced a budget that increased property taxes by around three per cent, the lowest in the corridor.

Corridor trail still a matter of discussion

The first phase of a multi-use trail that would link the south end of Squamish to the north end of Brackendale has been complete for a month, but councillors wanted more details on Tuesday as staff requested a reserve fund for gas taxes - a source of funding for the trail.

Given a budget of $1.6 million, and roughly $1.3 million from the gas tax and Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project, Councillor Corinne Lonsdale wanted to know where the remaining money was going to come from.

Ralph Hughes, the director of finance, said they may be looking for additional funding to complete the trail, but promised to come back to a future council meeting with more detailed estimates. Council was informed that the next report would be coming forward next week with details on various land issues and challenges facing the next two sections of trail.

Patricia Heintzman said she supported paving the route, as the gravel option is too slow for cyclists, and isn't friendly to inline skaters and other trail users. With paving, she said, the costs would go up considerably.

"Our initial estimate was based on $60 per linear metre for a 12-foot wide trail, which is the average cost as bridges and boardwalks cost more," she said. "That's also the cost for graded gravel as opposed to asphalt, which is about $200 a linear metre."

Arena roof loan gets go-ahead

Squamish council approved a loan of up to $992,366 over 20 years to rebuild the roof of the hockey arena at Brennan Park, despite some concerns over the cost.

"My issue is that I don't want to borrow money at all," said Councillor Corinne Lonsdale. "And if we've made inquiries about grant funding out there for recreational refits and refurbishing under this stimulus funding announced."

Financial services director Ralph Hughes says they looked into grants, but unfortunately the federal and provincial governments are only considering new projects while the arena roof has been on the District of Squamish's agenda since 2008.

Councillor Paul Lalli wanted to know why the project was approved for so much when the initial estimates came in much lower. "It seems to make more sense to borrow the amount of money you're actually going to spend," he said, adding that the figures they quoted should have included leeway for cost overruns.

Despite these objections the bylaw went through.

Water restrictions move into Phase 3

The ongoing drought on the south coast prompted the District of Squamish to impose Phase 3 water restriction last week. Under the restrictions even numbered addresses can only water their lawns from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays, while odd numbered addresses are allowed to water at the same time on Thursdays and Sundays.