Residents had a chance to tell council what the local budget priorities should be - but few took the opportunity.
Terrill Patterson, John Erickson and Astrid Andersen were the only non-media residents in attendance to give council their thoughts on the budget that lawmakers are trying to set.
Andersen told council that the assessment on her home atop Hospital Hill jumped by 60 per cent this year. She is worried that the huge jump is going to result in a significant property tax increase for her property.
"Don't tax your old-timers out of town," she ordered council. "Further, my advice to council is, don't rush with the Adventure Centre on the highway. Ottawa hasn't mailed the money yet. And, shouldn't the police building be finished first as well as the four-lane expansion to the highway in that area?"
Andersen wrapped up her address to council by recommending that council leave the creation of a summer farmers' market building to private enterprise and suggest they use or rent some of the empty space downtown.
Patterson warned that council stands to impose tax increases on some residents that will be hundreds of dollars more than last year.
Coun. Cor-inne Lonsdale shares the concern. She said after the meeting that residents who live in the most ex-pensive homes had property assessment increases below 15 per cent while many homeowners with median value homes were hit with increases as high as 60 per cent.
Many homes in Squamish that were valued at about $250,000 in 2002 were reassessed at more than $350,000 for 2003. According to Lonsdale, these are the homeowners who will face the largest increases.
"How many people are going to lose their houses to taxes?" Erickson asked council when he was given a chance to offer his feedback on the budget.
Erickson complained that he had no information to work from in offering feedback. "What is the real intent of the public meeting?" he asked.
He went on to slam Squamish New Directions and suggested "there's some slippery business here".
Mayor Ian Sutherland told those at the meeting that the gathering was called to give the public a chance to offer input into the budget process. He thanked Andersen for her input and singled it out as the kind of feedback council was looking for.
Sutherland also said there will be more public meetings on the budget as the Community Charter requires a series of meetings.
Trudy Coates, the district's manager of administrative services, said that all budget documents are available for anyone to see. The information is kept at the municipal hall front counter.
Andersen, Patterson and Erickson all expressed disappointment with the poor attendance at the public meeting. Patterson said the meeting wasn't publicized well enough.
Earlier in the day, council continued its efforts to prioritize the budget and determine what it will spend its money on and what will be put off for future years.
A significant amount of time was spent on the new public services building, which will house the RCMP and Squamish Emergency Program. Councillors were surprised to learn that staff wants to spend more than the original budget of more than $4.4 million for the new building.
Staff is asking council thousands more in extras to pay for upgraded security features, landscaping, furniture and more covered parking for the Squamish Emergency Program.
Council directed staff, after a short in-camera meeting, to bring council more information and one figure indicating the total amount staff wants for the building. Construction is three months behind schedule. An original estimate indicated the building would be ready for occupancy by Dec. 10, 2003.
A significant amount of time was also spent on discussion related to road maintenance. Coun. Raj Kahlon wants to spend $600,000 on repaving this year. Kahlon argued last year that too little is being spent on keeping up the local roads and he rolled out the same debate again this year.
The original recommendation for this budget was to spend $400,000.
Coun. Ray Peters supported Kahlon's stance that the community is 15 years behind in road maintenance.
"If we keep sliding we'll become the pothole capital and not the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada," Peters said.
Lonsdale used the issue to once again point out that the district's development cost charges (DCC) bylaw needs to be updated. She said Squamish's DCCs are extremely low compared to most other communities and developers are taking advantage of that.
Mick Gottardi, the community development director, said updating the DCCs is one of highest priorities and Derek Weatherbee, the district's director of operations, said it is possible to spend $600,000 on paving in one budget year.
Near the end of the budget meeting the council members laughed their way through a discussion about new toilet facilities for the Brennan Park area and the eagle viewing area on Government Road.
All weather field users and slo-pitch players at the new diamond are resorting to doing their business in the woods so toilets are proposed for those fields.
Council supports sending $60,000 to build a washroom facility for eagle watchers.
"People from all over the world go there," Kahlon said. "If we're a world-class city we have to offer world-class toilets."
Coun. Jeff Dawson said it is the first impression for some visitors and he feels that first impression needs to be a good one.
Lonsdale wanted a pit toilet for the eagle viewing area but she was out-voted six to one.
Council is ahead of where it was at this time in last year's budget process, according to the district's financial services director.
"There is work to be done," said Patrick Robins. "Council needs to make some choices now. They have reviewed most, if not all, of the items and they have to choose the items they feel the community most needs."
The budget process continues with further budget discussions on Tuesday (Mar. 16).
