On July 4, 2023, Vernon City Council announced that as of January 1, 2024, Vernon will be solely responsible for providing and funding Recreation Services for its residents. This is because the recreation Agreement that is currently in place between the City of Vernon, District of Coldstream, and Regional District Electoral Areas ‘B’ and ‘C’ will expire December 31, 2023.
Since that announcement, questions have arisen throughout the Greater Vernon area about the negotiation process between the City and the other Participants.
To provide clarification to the public and to remain open and transparent about the next steps for Recreation Services, Vernon City Council has declassified financial information from the negotiation discussions that happened earlier this year. This includes:
“First and foremost, Vernon City Council wants to be very clear about the negotiation process that took place earlier this year. Vernon was at the table, ready and wanting to have fulsome discussions to reach a reasonable and equitable Agreement for all parties involved,” said Mayor Victor Cumming.
“According to the current Agreement, Participants had to notify one another prior to the end of 2022 that they wanted to renegotiate. Those discussions then had to be complete by June 30, 2023, in order for the Agreement to be extended beyond the end of this year.
“The end-of-year notifications happened, as anticipated, but despite Vernon’s best efforts to move negotiation discussions forward, no consensus could be reached by the deadline. Vernon reminded all other Participants of the June 30 deadline on multiple occasions, meaning
everyone was aware of the milestone date, which was critical – in part – to meet budget planning deadlines for the next fiscal year.
“After June 30, the time to negotiate a renewed Agreement had passed and City Council announced Vernon is now investigating the implementation of a tiered user fee system, which will apply to all users of Recreation Services’ facilities, services and programs.
“Again, City Council wants to reaffirm its invitation to all municipalities and Electoral Areas outside of Vernon – we welcome them to establish Fee for Service Agreements, if they would like their residents to receive Recreation Services at the same level as City of Vernon residents, with lower user fees and earlier access to program registrations.”
Per the current Agreement, each Participant pays a percentage of the annual Recreation Services operational and maintenance budget, based on their jurisdiction’s property assessment value (net taxable value of converted improvements), as calculated by the BC Assessment Authority. This is the standard formula historically used to determine cost sharing for a variety of services through the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee.
Based on that formula, between 2019 and 2023, each jurisdiction was responsible for covering the following percentage of the annual costs:
For 2024, the assessment values changed, per updated calculations by the BC Assessment Authority, which means each jurisdiction would be responsible for contributing the following:
“Due to the change in assessment values, and using the 2023 budget as a starting point for discussion, Vernon’s baseline contribution amount for 2024 decreased by approximately $110,000,” said Mayor Cumming.
“Coldstream’s baseline contribution amount increased by approximately $12,000, and Electoral Areas B and C would have had to pay an additional approximate $45,000 and $53,000, respectively. Those amounts are solely based on assessment values and do not take into account increased service and operational costs, nor the continued implementation of the Recreation Master Plan.”
As all Canadian businesses, organizations, and governments have experienced, the cost of doing business and providing services has continued to increase at a steady rate over the last few years. During the negotiation period, Vernon presented a proposal to the other Participants (as of January 1, 2024) that included non-discretionary cost increases such as wages, wage competitiveness, insurance, mandated sick leave, and carbon tax. The total anticipated operational increase for Recreation Services in 2024 is $226,019, and was proposed to be shared proportionately between the four jurisdictions.
Additionally, Vernon proposed to include the costs to implement short- and medium-term recommendations within the Recreation Master Plan, which were supported and endorsed by the Participants in 2018, but subsequently not funded by the Participants. The recommendations are primarily related to staffing required as part of the implementation of the Master Plan, as well as annually funding the Major Maintenance Reserve.
Implementing the recommendations is intended to address substantial population growth throughout the Greater Vernon area (more than 5,700 new residents between 2016 – 2021), and continue providing the level of service that has come to be expected by community members.
The total cost identified for 2024 to continue implementing the Master Plan is $425,000, and was proposed to be shared proportionately between the four jurisdictions.
Therefore, based on the property assessment value formula, the non-discretionary operational cost increases, and the costs to continue implementing recommendations within the 2018 Greater Vernon Recreation Master Plan, the following amounts were requested of each of the Participants in order to extend the Agreement beyond December 31, 2023:
|
Proportional percentage (BC Assessment) |
Base funding for 2024 |
Non-discretionary cost increase |
Recreation Master Plan initiatives |
Proposed 2024 total contribution |
Proposed 2024 increase (compared to 2023) |
|
|
Vernon |
65.7% |
$2,685,924 |
$148,494 |
$279,225 |
$3,113,643 |
$317,334 |
|
Coldstream |
17% |
694,988 |
38,423 |
72,250 |
805,661 |
$122,938 |
|
Area B |
8.7% |
355,670 |
19,664 |
36,975 |
412,309 |
$101,608 |
|
Area C |
8.6% |
351,582 |
19,438 |
36,550 |
407,570 |
$109,134 |
|
TOTAL |
100% |
$4,088,164 |
$226,019 |
$425,000 |
$4,739,183 |
$651,018 |
“The proposal provided to the other funding Participants was based on hard costs, increased financial pressures that we’re all experiencing, and an objective to meet the minimum required service expectations of residents,” said Mayor Cumming. “Vernon City Council believes the figures presented were fair and are required to appropriately fund Recreation Services in the coming year.
“The offer provided by the Participants failed to recognize the change in property assessment values – a long-standing and agreed upon formula for funding for the Participants – and did not offer enough funding to maintain current service levels, nor act on the recommendations in the Master Plan.
“Council was disappointed that a renewed Agreement could not be reached by the clearly identified deadline, but hopes we can still have productive and equitable discussions with our neighbours about the possibility of entering into Fee for Service Agreements, as we continue to see a desire for more sustainable and expanded sport, recreation, and wellness opportunities grow throughout the region.”