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Committee meeting. Committee it is committee, isn't it? Special Committee

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of the whole meeting of Victoria. City council here on

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November the 7th. Today we will be considering the very

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first steps of our 2026 budget deliberations, and I'll explain

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a little bit more about that in a moment. But

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of course, before we begin, we always begin by taking

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a moment to. Ground ourselves and our work. And a

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recognition and acknowledgement of the remarkable stewardship that has been

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undertaken on our behalf. By the Songhees nation and the

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Kosapson nation, the Lakungan. People in these territories for so

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many generations. Our city, of course, sits entirely. On the

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past, on the contemporary territories of two nations. And it's

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important for us to remember that the ability for us

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to live here and raise our families and do this

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important work. And make our best decisions for the people

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who are here and the people who are coming. That

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is all rooted in the experience and dedic. Dedication and

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commitment of the people from the past. And those nations

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have spent so many generations, so many centuries, ensuring that

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we have these opportunities. And so it is important for

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us to acknowledge that and express our gratitude, but also

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to look forward and acknowledge the ongoing relationship we have

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with the two nations and. To recommit to ensuring that

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that relationship remains and is nurtured and grows as is

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needed by all indigenous and non indigenous folk in this

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area. The two nations themselves. Have grown and demanded different

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things from us over the years, as they will continue

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to do as we do with them. And so we

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look forward to that ongoing conversation, the recommitments. And relationship

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building that is necessary. And in doing that, we offer

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in their language of thanks to say hi Chicasim Hychikasim

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Naquilia, to say thank you and to. Anticipate the need

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for more thanks and to acknowledge their leadership, our leadership,

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the leadership of all of the individual. Individuals, organizations, families

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and people who live in these areas to continue to

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nurture and do the best they can. Ichikasiam Nicolia. I'm

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not aware of any late items that need to be

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added to today's. Agenda, and so I would look first

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for just an approval of the agenda. So I'd like

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to move that. Thanks, Councilor Kim. Seconded by Councilor Dell.

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Any discussion of the agenda, seeing none. All those in

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favor? Anyone opposed? That is unanimous. That does take us

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to our one item today, and that is our one

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item of new. Business, and this is with regard to

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the 2026 2030 draft financial plan. And if anyone is

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like me. And they saw 2030 on that page, and

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they got a little bit of a chill. You're not

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alone. What is going to happen this afternoon and I'll.

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Briefly outline where we hope we will go today and

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in the future, as we do have subsequent meetings already

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scheduled later in November and. Will likely move into December

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as well. First of all, we're going to hear from

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our three senior staff who are seated there, and they

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will introduce themselves momentarily to provide an overview of the

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entire budget. The entire draft 2026 2030 budget, the financial

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plan. Rather. And once we hear those presentations, we will

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canvass council to see if there are any general questions,

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but I will urge council to consider in a moment

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how we're going to parse out the different pieces of

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this. So if there are any global questions based upon

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the presentation itself. We'll take a moment for that. However,

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if we start to vary too closely. Into very specific

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questions. We'll pause because we are going to have an

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opportunity, ample opportunities. To go deeply into all of these

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financial issues as we move forward to this process. Once

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we get to that point, you will see that there

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are a number of appendices. And they are blocked out

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in sort of four sections. The first one, appendix a,

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is one which identifies all of the things that council

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previously directed. Council or committees. Good Lord. I want you

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to do everything. Previously council directed for. Staff to remove

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from the financial plan for the future of this year.

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We will look at those and we will see whether

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or not council has any interest in adding any of

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them back in. So that's step one. After that, there's

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a subsequent appendix, and we'll go through all of this

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in more detail a little bit later. That actually speaks

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to the proposed reductions for 2026 and will canvass all.

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Of those and determine whether we're comfortable with them or

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not, whether we want to adjust. Them or amend them

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or remove them. All those different things that's likely going

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to take some time. I will say that I do

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not expect to even get there today. I would suggest

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it's highly likely that we'll get through the presentation some

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general. Questions at maybe appendix a today. We only have

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3 hours and then we'll move on. But whenever we

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get to that, that will be the next step. Anticipating

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that there may be some additional proposals. For items that

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are not in either of those two appendices, we'll start

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dealing. With those in the third block again. Do not

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expect to get there today, but that will be an

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opportunity for council to introduce new things. And then finally,

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of course, there is the opportunity for council to give

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direction for future years that is not necessary. Let me

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be clear about that. But certainly staff would appreciate. Any,

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even most general direction as they begin to think ahead,

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of course, preparing for years and budgets after 2026. As

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I said, we already have booked meetings on the 21

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November and on the 24 November. If we need more

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meetings after that, which we may. We'll just book those

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again after that. Period of time, we will likely not

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get to a final decision until early in the new

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year. And I'm sure that our staff will be reminding

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us of the actual dates of the various deadlines as

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they go through their presentation. And after we do the

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presentation, I'm going to speak a little bit about timing,

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but. I'll leave that for that time. Perhaps I'll stop

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talking now and turn it. Over to our able staff

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to begin. This wonderful journey over to you, and please

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introduce yourselves as you need. Thank you, mayor. Good afternoon,

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mayor and council. My name is Jocelyn Jenkins. I'm the

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city manager. We are here today to present on the

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city's 2026 draft financial plan. Before we get into the

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details of the presentation, I'd like to offer some opening

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comments. With the release of the provincial budget in March

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and the federal budget earlier this year. It's clear that

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current economic conditions nationally and provincially continue to be very

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challenging. Both a federal and provincial government are running deficits

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for the foreseeable future to be able to respond to

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the pressures of ongoing service delivery and investment. While the

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city operates within the same economic conditions as other levels

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of government. Municipalities cannot run a deficit and rely heavily

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on a single stream of property taxes. The city delivers

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approximately 200 programs and services outlined in the draft financial

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plan. These services and programs span a variety of areas,

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from parks and recreation to waste collection. Building inspections, roads,

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stormwater, cycling infrastructure. Fire response bylaw and community safety, arts

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and culture, and much more. As most of these programs

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and services are delivered by people, cost drivers related to

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these services include employee compensation, as well as market cost

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pressures related to the costs of materials, equipment, insurance, and

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supplies. From a capital budget perspective, aging infrastructure is a

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growing concern, with many assets exceeding their expected usual life

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and requiring replacement. Older pipes, roads, water mains and bridges.

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Are deteriorating faster without additional investment, while growth and climate

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change pressures are outpacing current renewal. Funding, widening the infrastructure

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gap and increasing the renewal backlog. In addition to funding,

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planning, and managing our own city programs and services, the

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province is added to the city's capital program burden by

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mandating the rapid deployment of housing in Victoria. Related to

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the building of housing, the demand for strong physical infrastructure

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like roads, utilities and transportation, which are essential for building

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sustainable, affordable, and livable communities. Continue to increase. Given these

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pressures and the desire to hold the line on property

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taxes for both residents and the business community. The city

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is facing some very challenging budget decisions for 2026. So

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even though council's deliberations on the 2026 budget begin in

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earnest today, staff were provided with tax increased targets for

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2026 starting last year. As part of the 2025 budget

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process. Council directed staff to identify reduction options to achieve

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a 4% tax increase for 2025 and 2026. And over

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14 million in reductions were brought forward as outlined in

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appendix D. Council approved all reductions for 2025 and 26.

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And for 2026, council directed staff to incorporate the 4%

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option into the 2026 budget. As a starting point. Identify

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reduction options to offset the upcoming debt servicing for the

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crystal pool and to identify additional reduction options of a

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million dollars for council to be able to add back

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some of the reductions incorporated. In the 2026 draft budget.

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so over the last six months staff have worked hard

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to identify significant levers for cost containment while minimizing impacts

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on services and taking into account the city's obligations and

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service dependencies At this point, I would really like to

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thank my senior leadership team for months of very thoughtful

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work that they have put into these various budget reduction

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scenarios for council's consideration to get the city's portion of

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the tax increase to 4%. The succinct report before you

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is the culmination of countless hours of reviewing project plans

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and related funding strategies. Scrutinizing program service levels, identifying cost

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avoidance by deferring or canceling projects. And looking at potential

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revenue generating opportunities. In examining the budget and the required

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reductions, staff took the approach that everything was on the

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table. Despite. Counsel prior approvals. Reduction options are comprehensive and

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include a variety of considerations. These include areas where there

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may be duplication of services with other organizations. Options to

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defer or cancel debt funded projects to reduce debt payments.

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Implementing service and program adjustments, and that would be inclusive

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of community grant programs. And increasing and developing new revenue

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streams. So, in closing, staff recognize that trade offs are

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required, and this report provides a range of options. Both

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immediate and for the future. For council's consideration. With that,

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I will hand it over. To my able colleague, director

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Thompson. Good afternoon, Mary. Council. My name is Susan Thompson.

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I'm deputy city manager and chief financial. Officer. So, as

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the city manager noted, we're pleased to be here this

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afternoon to introduce the draft financial plan to council to

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start off the deliberations for the 2026 to 2030. Budgets.

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So today we'll walk you through our budget framework. An

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overview of our many services, our asset management work, and

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the infrastructure funding strategy. A summary of the 2026 to

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2030 financial plan. Ways of balancing the budget, as identified

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through our recent public engagement. Options for reducing tax increases

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and the estimated timeline. So, as council is aware, the

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financial plan is the very end of a much larger

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planning process. All the city's strategies, frameworks, plans and condition

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assessments. Inform the numerous programs, services, and projects that are

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included in the financial plan. And our financial policies provide

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the overarching guidance for budget development. So the 2026 draft

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operating budget is $389,000,000 and the 2026 draft capital budget

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is 98.8 million. But before we get to the details

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behind those numbers, we have a few slides to remind

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everyone. Of the many services the city provides that our

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community relies on. Also, please note that the financial plan

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document provides summaries of all the core services that each

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department provides. So from waterfront walkways to busking and entertainment

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to our park spaces, And roads, skating and swimming. Accessibility

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improvements. And places to play. Multimodal infrastructure and underground pipes.

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Spaces to park and outdoor recreation activities. Distribution of seedlings

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and more road work. And opportunities to learn to bike,

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enjoy the water waste, and provide input into planning processes.

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Solid waste collection to support a clean city. Fire response

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hanging baskets, residential garbage and greenburn pickup and the vehicle

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fleet that support our many services. More roadwork, Nev. Charging

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places. Supporting inquiries and accepting payments at the public service

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counter at City hall, taking part in swimming lessons. And

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providing input into the official community plan. Information technology supports

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fire, rescue and misting stations to keep us cool. So

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this is by no means all of the services, but

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it provides a snapshot of the great work that happens

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in our community every day. So critical to the service

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delivery is the infrastructure. That supports it, and well managed

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infrastructure is linked to the well being of a community.

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So with that in mind, I will now turn it

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over to Director Doyle to provide an update. On our

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asset management journey. Thank you, director Thompson. My name is

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William Doyle. I'm the director of engineering and public. Works.

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The objective of our asset management work is to ensure

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lasting infrastructure value through strategic oversight. Please recall this image

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from the last two years of budgeting discussions and consider

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the decades of policies and investments that have yielded the

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strong asset management foundation on which the city stands. In

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the next few minutes, we will briefly explain how continued

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strategic investments will help drive the city towards sustainable service

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delivery and prioritize and fund critical asset needs. We'll highlight

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where we stand, what we've learned from other cities, and

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how we're preparing Victoria's infrastructure for the next generation. To

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put this into context, we would like to highlight the

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scale and significance of the city's. $4.9 billion asset portfolio,

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which includes roads, utilities, parks, facilities and fleet. The

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city's asset management practices are founded on different elements of

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00:16:35,262 --> 00:16:41,496
the city's financial sustainability policy. Namely debt management principles, dedicated

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reserves and surplus allocation, and the lifecycle funding approach. This

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00:16:46,466 --> 00:16:49,426
total asset value underscores the role of asset management in

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delivering reliable services, ensuring public safety and building community resilience.

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Well managed assets directly impact quality of life. This is

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why ongoing investment is essential to maintain service. Levels and

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adapt to emerging challenges. Here's a snapshot of the current

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condition of the city's assets. The chart highlights that approximately

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00:17:11,822 --> 00:17:15,422
$800 million in asset replacement costs are in poor or

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00:17:15,422 --> 00:17:23,324
very poor condition, representing 16% of assets. That's roughly one

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00:17:23,324 --> 00:17:25,524
in six of the systems that keep our city running

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00:17:25,524 --> 00:17:30,888
every day. We underline the importance of accurate condition assessments

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00:17:30,888 --> 00:17:34,769
for informed decision making. While progress has been made, significant

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00:17:34,769 --> 00:17:39,863
data gaps remain, particularly in condition based risk assessments. This

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00:17:39,863 --> 00:17:42,303
slide. Then the next outlines some of the key challenges

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00:17:42,303 --> 00:17:46,863
facing the city's asset management efforts. These include aging infrastructure,

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00:17:46,863 --> 00:17:50,583
rising costs due to inflation and supply chain issues, climate

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00:17:50,583 --> 00:17:58,728
change impacts, and persistent data gaps. These pressures are accelerating

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00:17:58,728 --> 00:18:07,146
asset deterioration and increasing financial pressures. We emphasize the need

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00:18:07,146 --> 00:18:10,386
for proactive planning and investment to mitigate these risks and

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00:18:10,386 --> 00:18:15,235
ensure sustainable service delivery. Let's take a look at some

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of what we're learning from other cities. Proactive asset management

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00:18:22,074 --> 00:18:26,276
is the backbone of reliable public service. Pictured here as

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00:18:26,276 --> 00:18:30,516
a feeder. Main failure in Calgary in January 2004. This

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00:18:30,516 --> 00:18:36,478
is an installation of. A prestressed concrete cylinder pipe PCCP,

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00:18:36,478 --> 00:18:39,398
a once popular design that has proven difficult to monitor

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00:18:39,398 --> 00:18:45,612
for deterioration and tends to fail spectacularly. Nearly 200. Calgary's

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00:18:45,612 --> 00:18:48,612
5000 kilometer to water main infrastructure is of this type.

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00:18:50,402 --> 00:18:53,922
Calgary's feeder main condition assessment and maintenance program, launched after

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00:18:53,922 --> 00:18:56,722
the McKnight failure, was built on the knowledge that regular

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00:18:56,722 --> 00:19:00,922
inspections, leak detection, and risk analysis can prevent costly disruptions.

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00:19:02,729 --> 00:19:06,489
When maintenance is deferred or documentation is incomplete, the consequences

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00:19:06,489 --> 00:19:10,809
can be severe over 20 years. Later in June 2024,

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00:19:10,809 --> 00:19:14,129
the failure of Calgary's bears, plus south Peter Main, also

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00:19:14,129 --> 00:19:18,969
a PCCP installation led to citywide water restrictions, emergency repairs,

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00:19:18,969 --> 00:19:25,529
and millions in unplanned. Costs. This event highlights the risks

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00:19:25,529 --> 00:19:28,329
of aging infrastructure and the importance of knowing our system's

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00:19:28,329 --> 00:19:32,722
single points of failure. It's a powerful reminder that asset

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00:19:32,722 --> 00:19:37,202
management gaps can quickly escalate into communitywide crises, underscoring the

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00:19:37,202 --> 00:19:42,279
need for robust planning and continuous improvement. Despite the challenges,

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00:19:42,279 --> 00:19:45,599
Calgary's response to the feeder main crisis showcased remarkable team

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00:19:45,599 --> 00:19:51,759
resilience. And innovation staff collaborated across departments, adopted repair methods,

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00:19:51,759 --> 00:19:58,739
and leveraged new technologies like acoustic fiber optic monitoring. The

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00:19:58,739 --> 00:20:00,899
result was not just a restored pipeline, but a stronger,

285
00:20:00,899 --> 00:20:05,928
more connected team. Calgary's experience illustrates how investing in people,

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00:20:05,928 --> 00:20:11,248
fostering collaboration and embracing innovation can turn adversity into opportunity,

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00:20:11,248 --> 00:20:13,528
building a culture of resilience that benefits the entire community.

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00:20:15,198 --> 00:20:22,036
Turning over to our local progress. Over the past year,

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00:20:22,036 --> 00:20:25,236
we finalized and piloted all of our major asset management

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00:20:25,236 --> 00:20:30,516
frameworks. These frameworks standardize how we assess asset condition, risk,

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00:20:30,516 --> 00:20:34,196
and service levels across departments, enabling more consistent and data

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00:20:34,196 --> 00:20:38,543
driven decision making. We launched a new asset management web

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00:20:38,543 --> 00:20:42,990
resource on the city's internal hub. Making information more accessible

294
00:20:42,990 --> 00:20:48,350
to staff. This resource supports transparency and helps asset stewards

295
00:20:48,350 --> 00:20:52,838
track progress and priorities. Significant progress was made on the

296
00:20:52,838 --> 00:20:58,525
city's operation management system cardigraphs. The implementation schedule has improved,

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00:20:58,525 --> 00:21:01,125
and more teams are now using this system for real

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00:21:01,125 --> 00:21:05,757
time asset tracking. And reporting. The city secured over $4

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00:21:05,757 --> 00:21:09,757
million in external grants for EV, charging cycling infrastructure and

300
00:21:09,757 --> 00:21:14,664
other capital projects. Federal and provincial partnerships have been critical

301
00:21:14,664 --> 00:21:20,284
in advancing many initiatives. Several major infrastructure repairs and upgrades

302
00:21:20,284 --> 00:21:25,084
were completed or advanced. Governments treat watermelon upgrade, Chatham Lift

303
00:21:25,084 --> 00:21:29,324
station commissioning Superior pump station replacement awarded and scheduled for

304
00:21:29,324 --> 00:21:36,620
completion in 2026. Multiple corridors on the cycling network complete.

305
00:21:36,620 --> 00:21:40,580
Air underway with external grant funding secured for Blanchard north

306
00:21:40,580 --> 00:21:44,140
and Cook Street north. And lastly, the moss street storm

307
00:21:44,140 --> 00:21:47,780
drain repair, profiled in these pictures here from this initial

308
00:21:47,780 --> 00:21:52,460
picture, a sinkhole that appeared in May 2024 and not

309
00:21:52,460 --> 00:22:01,923
too sure upon initial. Assessment what the cause was. through

310
00:22:01,923 --> 00:22:06,683
to further exposing the sinkhole finding it was vague and

311
00:22:06,683 --> 00:22:07,646
then about a year later further into the repair About

312
00:22:07,646 --> 00:22:10,964
twelve meter deep. Repair. Excavator down in the Hola complex,

313
00:22:10,964 --> 00:22:15,436
kind of confined space entry. And then that's the pipe

314
00:22:15,436 --> 00:22:18,076
that was collapsed. That was the deep underway of Brickstore.

315
00:22:18,076 --> 00:22:26,204
Arch. Storm. Sewer. And then reconstruction of the main inside.

316
00:22:26,204 --> 00:22:28,484
Later, cleaning out the debris. You can see farther behind

317
00:22:28,484 --> 00:22:33,108
there. And then ultimately, site restoration. Just in the past

318
00:22:33,108 --> 00:22:35,468
couple of months, so just keep in mind this was

319
00:22:35,468 --> 00:22:38,468
a multimillion dollar repair for a few meters of storm

320
00:22:38,468 --> 00:22:41,868
drain. With the city having thousands of meters of underground

321
00:22:41,868 --> 00:22:45,373
mains in its networks. Let's take a look at how

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00:22:45,373 --> 00:22:54,532
we optimize asset decisions with risk analysis. The city moves

323
00:22:54,532 --> 00:22:57,972
from condition only assessments to prioritizing assets based on risk

324
00:22:57,972 --> 00:23:03,295
factors. This improves decision accuracy. Over half of asset value

325
00:23:03,295 --> 00:23:06,695
remains unassessed for condition risk, but ongoing efforts aimed to

326
00:23:06,695 --> 00:23:12,294
complete evaluations. Condition based risk assessments, enable better investment decisions

327
00:23:12,294 --> 00:23:17,411
and align with asset management best practices. Completing commission based

328
00:23:17,411 --> 00:23:20,811
risks assessments, guides funding and renewal priorities to protect high

329
00:23:20,811 --> 00:23:24,884
risk assets effectively. Now looking ahead to our priorities and

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00:23:24,884 --> 00:23:31,559
next steps. We plan to continue to adopt and improve

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00:23:31,559 --> 00:23:36,198
asset management practices for future needs and challenges. With fresh

332
00:23:36,198 --> 00:23:40,938
data in the next year, we will undertake renewals. Of

333
00:23:40,938 --> 00:23:44,338
our watermaster plan, sanitary master plan, and road and sewer

334
00:23:44,338 --> 00:23:47,938
condition based risk assessment together, making about 40% of our

335
00:23:47,938 --> 00:23:52,941
asset value. We will prioritize the renewal of essential assets

336
00:23:52,941 --> 00:23:57,862
to help ensure long term service reliability and safety. We

337
00:23:57,862 --> 00:24:00,302
will continue to strengthen the resilience of city assets to

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00:24:00,302 --> 00:24:07,356
withstand environmental and operational risks. Lastly. We encourage a continuation

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00:24:07,356 --> 00:24:11,703
of council engagement, funding and support. Together, we're ensuring Victoria's

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00:24:11,703 --> 00:24:15,663
infrastructure continues to serve residents, businesses, and visitors safely and

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00:24:15,663 --> 00:24:19,223
sustainably for generations. Thank you. Back over to you, Director

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00:24:19,223 --> 00:24:28,967
Thompson. So building on that. As council

343
00:24:28,967 --> 00:24:32,727
knows, we have proposed a $5 million annual tax increase

344
00:24:32,727 --> 00:24:36,527
each year until 2030. And this really supports that capital

345
00:24:36,527 --> 00:24:40,207
renewal and sustainable asset management that director Doyle was talking

346
00:24:40,207 --> 00:24:45,114
about. The strategy reduces the dependence on reserves and moves

347
00:24:45,114 --> 00:24:48,893
us towards. Long term financial stability when it comes to

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00:24:48,893 --> 00:24:52,213
our infrastructure. It's important to note that the increase in

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00:24:52,213 --> 00:24:56,093
property tax funding will not result in increased capital budgets,

350
00:24:56,093 --> 00:24:58,373
as you see on the screen. The capital budgets going

351
00:24:58,373 --> 00:25:01,933
forward remain essentially the same in that $80 million range.

352
00:25:03,050 --> 00:25:06,930
And this simply replaces the insufficient reserve funding that the

353
00:25:06,930 --> 00:25:09,850
council is aware of. In other words, this will not

354
00:25:09,850 --> 00:25:14,370
increase reserves, but it will provide. The funding for the

355
00:25:14,370 --> 00:25:18,930
annual ongoing lifecycle renewal programs that we have in place.

356
00:25:18,930 --> 00:25:21,290
So if some or all of the $5 million in

357
00:25:21,290 --> 00:25:25,805
funding is not approved. Reductions to our ongoing lifecycle renewal

358
00:25:25,805 --> 00:25:29,845
programs that are already included in the 2026 and future

359
00:25:29,845 --> 00:25:34,596
years will have to be reduced. And this would increase.

360
00:25:35,726 --> 00:25:39,166
Maintenance. Very likely. So the programs that I'm referring to

361
00:25:39,166 --> 00:25:43,046
that would receive this funding includes major and local road

362
00:25:43,046 --> 00:25:50,445
paving, playground renewals. Crosswalk renewals, facilities infrastructure renewals, including our

363
00:25:50,445 --> 00:25:56,334
community centers, retaining wall rehabilitation. Traffic signal renewals and park

364
00:25:56,334 --> 00:26:01,033
infrastructure renewals. So as we look to the future, the

365
00:26:01,033 --> 00:26:08,884
main cost drivers that the city is facing. Our employee

366
00:26:08,884 --> 00:26:12,924
compensation budgets that represent 54% of the total budget in

367
00:26:12,924 --> 00:26:17,922
2026. Planned debt and associated repayments for projects like crystal

368
00:26:17,922 --> 00:26:23,442
pool, government street refresh, multimold corridors and Centennial square revitalization.

369
00:26:25,156 --> 00:26:29,276
Ongoing infrastructure asset renewal costs to support road paving, facility

370
00:26:29,276 --> 00:26:34,076
maintenance, underground infrastructure, and park and playground infrastructure renewal programs.

371
00:26:35,860 --> 00:26:38,860
Investments to support the implementation of the community safety and

372
00:26:38,860 --> 00:26:43,074
well being plan. And this plan, as council knows, has

373
00:26:43,074 --> 00:26:47,578
50 recommendations for the city to consider. 35 of those

374
00:26:47,578 --> 00:26:54,363
can be implemented within existing resources. For 2026. The continuation

375
00:26:54,363 --> 00:26:59,923
of the eleven priority actions requires funding of $4.2 million

376
00:26:59,923 --> 00:27:05,003
plus 1.8 million for the policing side. The funding levels

377
00:27:05,003 --> 00:27:09,123
will be reevaluated. As part of the 2028 financial planning

378
00:27:09,123 --> 00:27:12,421
process. So the numbers we're talking about here. Rel. Related

379
00:27:12,421 --> 00:27:16,721
2026 and 2027. And at that time in 2028, is

380
00:27:16,721 --> 00:27:20,481
where we will reassess opportunities for reallocating the funding to.

381
00:27:22,185 --> 00:27:27,914
The other. 15 plan actions. Or. To generally serve community

382
00:27:27,914 --> 00:27:32,594
well being and safety goals, so other initiatives appendix e

383
00:27:32,594 --> 00:27:37,389
provides more information on this budget. So last year. Last

384
00:27:37,389 --> 00:27:41,909
year's processes, council knows, resulted in options of $14 million

385
00:27:41,909 --> 00:27:44,189
in reductions over two years. So that was for 2025

386
00:27:44,189 --> 00:27:50,239
and 2026. The 2026 reductions totaled 5.4 million, and they

387
00:27:50,239 --> 00:27:53,519
have been removed from the draft financial plan as directed

388
00:27:53,519 --> 00:27:57,519
by council, and they can be found in appendix A.

389
00:27:57,519 --> 00:28:01,519
So collectively, these cost drivers along with inflationary increases and

390
00:28:01,519 --> 00:28:06,199
the reductions that I just mentioned, result in total budget

391
00:28:06,199 --> 00:28:11,320
increases ranging. From 15.5 million to 17.6 million in each

392
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:16,352
of the next five years. In addition, Wikipedia increases are

393
00:28:16,352 --> 00:28:21,712
significant for 2026. Their request includes base budget increase with

394
00:28:21,712 --> 00:28:26,232
four additional traffic officers and four additional patrol officers. The

395
00:28:26,232 --> 00:28:29,752
nine officers requested by the city for the Community Safety

396
00:28:29,752 --> 00:28:35,538
and well being plan Priority Act. Actions, a crime reduction

397
00:28:35,538 --> 00:28:39,378
unit, which they are recommending that the city request and

398
00:28:39,378 --> 00:28:43,297
fund as an optional service. As per section five of

399
00:28:43,297 --> 00:28:48,774
the framework agreement, And the province has rendered their decision

400
00:28:48,774 --> 00:28:52,094
on the section 27 appeal related to the late night

401
00:28:52,094 --> 00:28:55,014
program. And they have ordered that it be added to

402
00:28:55,014 --> 00:28:59,356
the police budget as a cost shared service. So important

403
00:28:59,356 --> 00:29:02,196
to note is that not included in the budget is

404
00:29:02,196 --> 00:29:06,036
a further section 27 appeal that is still pending, and

405
00:29:06,036 --> 00:29:10,436
if approved, that would add $925,000 to the overall police

406
00:29:10,436 --> 00:29:14,956
budget. The city's share of that would be $800,000 if

407
00:29:14,956 --> 00:29:18,313
approved in full. Of course. Also important to note is

408
00:29:18,313 --> 00:29:22,294
that. Their future year increases are likely to change. As

409
00:29:22,294 --> 00:29:28,728
the new police chief assesses. The department's needs. So translating

410
00:29:28,728 --> 00:29:33,168
this into tax increases, the city's portion for 2026 is

411
00:29:33,168 --> 00:29:43,121
8.29%. 2027 8.39% with the three future years around 7%

412
00:29:43,121 --> 00:29:47,561
on its own, the police request for 2026 is 9.8

413
00:29:47,561 --> 00:29:53,321
million, which equates to a 5.2% tax increase in 2026.

414
00:29:53,321 --> 00:29:57,750
Combining the two, the total draft tax increase. For 2026

415
00:29:57,750 --> 00:30:02,390
is 13.31%. And this would be followed by ten point

416
00:30:02,390 --> 00:30:10,030
61%. To 8.96, 8.79 and 8.59 increases in the subsequent

417
00:30:10,030 --> 00:30:13,359
years. Again, the reminder that the police numbers for those

418
00:30:13,359 --> 00:30:17,175
future years are very likely to change. So the Ipso

419
00:30:17,175 --> 00:30:20,735
survey results, which were presented to council on Monday, included

420
00:30:20,735 --> 00:30:26,824
a few questions about balancing the budget. While the results

421
00:30:26,824 --> 00:30:30,798
to the questions were slightly different, There was consistency regarding

422
00:30:30,798 --> 00:30:35,718
reducing service levels, which was preferred compared to completely eliminating

423
00:30:35,718 --> 00:30:42,532
services. And introducing new or increasing existing fees ranked high.

424
00:30:42,532 --> 00:30:45,252
However, property tax increases were in the middle of the

425
00:30:45,252 --> 00:30:48,852
preferred question, but was the least preferred option in the

426
00:30:48,852 --> 00:30:54,083
second question. So in 2025, council provided direction to reduce

427
00:30:54,083 --> 00:30:57,923
ongoing tax increases without shifting the burden to future years.

428
00:31:01,197 --> 00:31:03,517
So council said a tax increased goal of a maximum

429
00:31:03,517 --> 00:31:07,997
4% for the city portion and give direction to incorporate

430
00:31:07,997 --> 00:31:12,517
the 4% option from last year's financial prowling process into

431
00:31:12,517 --> 00:31:17,029
the 2026 draft budget as a starting point. We were

432
00:31:17,029 --> 00:31:19,909
also asked to identify reduction options to offset the upcoming

433
00:31:19,909 --> 00:31:24,949
debt servicing for crystal pool and to identify additional reduction

434
00:31:24,949 --> 00:31:29,749
options of $1 million so that council may add back

435
00:31:29,749 --> 00:31:33,029
some of the reductions that we incorporated into the draft

436
00:31:33,029 --> 00:31:37,122
budget. So to guide the work staff, use the following

437
00:31:37,122 --> 00:31:42,163
principles which were approved by council. We were to focus

438
00:31:42,163 --> 00:31:46,323
on ongoing property tax funded programs and services. Avoid adding

439
00:31:46,323 --> 00:31:51,483
new or expanding services programs and assets, avoid negatively impacting

440
00:31:51,483 --> 00:31:57,005
existing assets, and increase deferred maintenance. Pause actioning new or

441
00:31:57,005 --> 00:32:01,525
expanded initiatives to reduce or avoid additional tax increases, even

442
00:32:01,525 --> 00:32:06,213
if previously approved. By council. ESTaf used a methodology that

443
00:32:06,213 --> 00:32:11,093
examined services and programs across the organization. Phased reductions based

444
00:32:11,093 --> 00:32:14,133
on the estimated time it would take to implement them

445
00:32:14,133 --> 00:32:18,133
and limited the impact on services as best we could.

446
00:32:18,133 --> 00:32:21,691
The options. Identified also reflect the feedback on ways to

447
00:32:21,691 --> 00:32:25,451
balance the budget that was received through the statistically valid

448
00:32:25,451 --> 00:32:30,196
public consultation survey. So to avoid repeating the process of

449
00:32:30,196 --> 00:32:34,036
identifying reduction options each year, staff took a long term

450
00:32:34,036 --> 00:32:38,156
view of opportunities. So in order to achieve the maximum

451
00:32:38,156 --> 00:32:43,276
4% tax increase in 2026, reductions of $8.3 million is

452
00:32:43,276 --> 00:32:48,405
required, and this would be followed by equally AMb. Ambitious

453
00:32:48,405 --> 00:32:52,005
reduction targets or reductions across the next four years, for

454
00:32:52,005 --> 00:32:57,004
a total of 38.5 million. The main contributors to budget

455
00:32:57,004 --> 00:33:02,124
increases. The employee compensation, debt repayments, and infrastructure funding are

456
00:33:02,124 --> 00:33:06,288
also significant levers for cost containment. These, in addition to

457
00:33:06,288 --> 00:33:09,888
the public input, informed the development of the options for

458
00:33:09,888 --> 00:33:15,635
council's consideration. They include streamlining our operations and adjusting services

459
00:33:15,635 --> 00:33:19,380
and looking at where there's duplication. Of service. With other

460
00:33:19,380 --> 00:33:23,980
organization, including the CRD. So two services of the bike

461
00:33:23,980 --> 00:33:28,060
valet and the youth bus. Pass program. Our ideal candidates

462
00:33:28,060 --> 00:33:31,860
to receive funding from the CRD's new transportation service through

463
00:33:31,860 --> 00:33:35,380
their grand stream. To be clear, it is not suggested

464
00:33:35,380 --> 00:33:39,630
that these programs be canceled, but instead that crd. Funding

465
00:33:39,630 --> 00:33:45,114
is more appropriate. Another option is deferring or counseling some

466
00:33:45,114 --> 00:33:48,874
debt funded projects because the plan borrowing will result in

467
00:33:48,874 --> 00:33:53,570
significant principal and interest repayments. So while the debt repayments

468
00:33:53,570 --> 00:33:56,810
start in the year following the construction, because we borrow

469
00:33:56,810 --> 00:34:00,320
as late as we can. Four projects are scheduled to

470
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:04,600
be built or started in 2026, and therefore, a decision

471
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,440
on those on the capital decision now is relevant to

472
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:13,493
the 2026 budget. Staff also identified opportunities for new or

473
00:34:13,493 --> 00:34:17,933
increased revenues, and again, in developing the options, the focus

474
00:34:17,933 --> 00:34:21,773
was on budget containment while limiting the impact on services.

475
00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,959
So the tentative timelines are shown on the screen before

476
00:34:26,959 --> 00:34:29,439
you. And this will take us to. April of next

477
00:34:29,439 --> 00:34:35,384
year. We have to have a whole set of bylaws

478
00:34:35,384 --> 00:34:39,544
adopted before May 15 of next year. But we don't

479
00:34:39,544 --> 00:34:42,384
get all of the final information from BC assessment until

480
00:34:42,384 --> 00:34:44,584
the end of March, so it is a rather lengthy

481
00:34:44,584 --> 00:34:49,688
process. But we are aiming to have adoption of the

482
00:34:49,688 --> 00:34:52,488
financial plan by law in April so that we can

483
00:34:52,488 --> 00:34:55,568
then turn our minds to the tax rate setting, which

484
00:34:55,568 --> 00:35:00,135
comes after the financial plan has been completed. So we

485
00:35:00,135 --> 00:35:05,735
recognize the council is facing some challenging decision ahead and

486
00:35:05,735 --> 00:35:09,855
staff are here to support the process and answer any

487
00:35:09,855 --> 00:35:12,415
questions you may have. And with that, I'll turn it

488
00:35:12,415 --> 00:35:16,625
back to the mayor. Well, that's a sobering presentation. Thank

489
00:35:16,625 --> 00:35:22,034
you. Just one general question. In your last comment, you

490
00:35:22,034 --> 00:35:23,914
said you were aiming to have this wrapped up. In

491
00:35:23,914 --> 00:35:30,016
April. I believe we're required. Is that not correct? Through

492
00:35:30,016 --> 00:35:34,400
your marriage? Yes. We are required to have. It completed,

493
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:39,720
as in bylaw adoptions before May 15. But because there's

494
00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:43,840
a whole secondary process around tax rate setting. That comes

495
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:49,024
after the financial plan is finalized. We hope to have

496
00:35:49,024 --> 00:35:52,184
it actually. The financial plan site done no later than

497
00:35:52,184 --> 00:35:56,038
April. Just wanted to clarify that. Sounded like there was

498
00:35:56,038 --> 00:35:59,238
some wiggle room. I don't think. There is. Okay, so

499
00:35:59,238 --> 00:36:02,918
just based on that presentation, are there any general questions

500
00:36:02,918 --> 00:36:05,798
anyone wishes to ask? If not, we're going to move

501
00:36:05,798 --> 00:36:08,998
right into deliberation. Go ahead, Councilor Dell. Do you have

502
00:36:08,998 --> 00:36:12,198
a timeline for the police budget discussions and when those

503
00:36:12,198 --> 00:36:18,173
will be in this timeline? Right here. Go ahead. Sir?

504
00:36:18,173 --> 00:36:20,453
The mayor. So they are scheduled to come to council

505
00:36:20,453 --> 00:36:25,083
on November 20. Committee of the board will be here

506
00:36:25,083 --> 00:36:28,243
with the police chief and I suspect probably some staff

507
00:36:28,243 --> 00:36:31,763
to make their presentation and allow us to ask questions,

508
00:36:31,763 --> 00:36:34,123
et cetera. And as a result of that, that will

509
00:36:34,123 --> 00:36:43,423
become part of our discussions. Councilor gardner. Can you go

510
00:36:43,423 --> 00:36:47,737
back to slide 30, please? I'm just going to read

511
00:36:47,737 --> 00:36:52,696
something from last year's message from the mayor. To every

512
00:36:52,696 --> 00:36:57,310
taxpayer in the city. And it was. Council staff have

513
00:36:57,310 --> 00:37:02,550
worked hard to keep the tax increase at 6.99%. 8.18%

514
00:37:02,550 --> 00:37:07,655
for residents and 5.6% for businesses. So when we talk

515
00:37:07,655 --> 00:37:13,850
to 13.31%. What would. That would be for residential complexes,

516
00:37:13,850 --> 00:37:18,130
which I understand is rental, plus, of course, ownership and.

517
00:37:18,130 --> 00:37:23,157
What would be the percentage increase? For businesses and commercial,

518
00:37:23,157 --> 00:37:31,095
et cetera. Through the mayor. Two variables there. One. The

519
00:37:31,095 --> 00:37:36,728
first one is council's decision around rate setting. So we

520
00:37:36,728 --> 00:37:41,048
do have a policy direction to reduce the multiple so

521
00:37:41,048 --> 00:37:46,225
the ratio between the business and residential. Tax rates by

522
00:37:46,225 --> 00:37:49,585
bringing it down from the current 3.5 down to 3.4.

523
00:37:51,322 --> 00:37:54,922
For 2026. Again, that is a council decision, whether you

524
00:37:54,922 --> 00:37:59,201
want to do that or not. And then the second

525
00:37:59,201 --> 00:38:03,641
piece is depending on the assessed value changes from BC

526
00:38:03,641 --> 00:38:08,498
assessments, so I can't answer. The exact question until we

527
00:38:08,498 --> 00:38:13,898
have those pieces. However, if I take the historical information

528
00:38:13,898 --> 00:38:16,803
that we have, what has happened over the past. And

529
00:38:16,803 --> 00:38:18,763
looking to last year's, which were the rates that you

530
00:38:18,763 --> 00:38:23,037
were quoting. Usually, or there has been, historically, a shift

531
00:38:23,037 --> 00:38:26,437
of about 1%. So where we said last year, was

532
00:38:26,437 --> 00:38:32,728
6.99 overall and. The residential ended up at 8.18, but

533
00:38:32,728 --> 00:38:35,288
I can't tell you for sure if that's going to

534
00:38:35,288 --> 00:38:39,328
continue because it really depends on assessed value changes. Yeah,

535
00:38:39,328 --> 00:38:41,568
no, I understand. The assessed value. But last year, the

536
00:38:41,568 --> 00:38:46,110
spread then was. Not with the significant change, but by

537
00:38:46,110 --> 00:38:50,076
the policy that was adopted last year. That the rate

538
00:38:50,076 --> 00:38:54,551
differential that you mentioned. Is going to change again further

539
00:38:54,551 --> 00:38:59,701
by that policy. So we'll be looking at instead of

540
00:38:59,701 --> 00:39:07,275
6.99, gave you 8.15. So if we are 13.31, we'd

541
00:39:07,275 --> 00:39:13,002
probably. Be over 15% for residential somewhere in ballpark or

542
00:39:13,002 --> 00:39:18,571
range. Through the mayor. It's really not possible to say

543
00:39:18,571 --> 00:39:21,291
because I do not have the BC assessment data, so.

544
00:39:21,291 --> 00:39:25,891
If, for example, assessed values changed very differently between the

545
00:39:25,891 --> 00:39:29,371
two classes. So residential and business. Now that will impact

546
00:39:29,371 --> 00:39:34,154
that shift. Yes, thank you. I think, Mayor, you had

547
00:39:34,154 --> 00:39:39,111
mentioned in your introduction, Because as I reviewed the packages,

548
00:39:40,911 --> 00:39:42,431
And a lot that was taken into the budget for

549
00:39:42,431 --> 00:39:48,107
2026 was, of course, Direction from council majority of council

550
00:39:48,107 --> 00:39:51,147
in December of 2024, but I think it would be

551
00:39:51,147 --> 00:39:53,867
worthwhile to be able to review some of those because.

552
00:39:55,084 --> 00:39:56,924
Some of them. Well, I might object to, but there's

553
00:39:56,924 --> 00:39:59,684
some others I think that we. Could actually cut more

554
00:39:59,684 --> 00:40:02,897
in a couple of places where. We might significantly change

555
00:40:02,897 --> 00:40:05,337
some items. So was that in what you could call

556
00:40:05,337 --> 00:40:07,337
the third block or. Will there be an opportunity for

557
00:40:07,337 --> 00:40:09,977
that? Yes. This is, I believe, what you're referring to.

558
00:40:12,753 --> 00:40:15,553
Is the information, appendix D. And so, yes, we'll have

559
00:40:15,553 --> 00:40:17,473
an opportunity to look at that. After we look at

560
00:40:17,473 --> 00:40:20,353
A and B. Okay. Yes. Because that's mostly, I think,

561
00:40:20,353 --> 00:40:25,211
schedule D. Yes. Okay. Thank you. The survey. It's not

562
00:40:25,211 --> 00:40:29,811
quite. Perhaps for today, but perhaps we can have an

563
00:40:29,811 --> 00:40:32,811
update on what is going to be expected from the

564
00:40:32,811 --> 00:40:35,371
general public. Now that they have seen this, what opportunity

565
00:40:35,371 --> 00:40:41,156
they will have to speak to us. Via. Mr. Johnson?

566
00:40:41,156 --> 00:40:46,156
Yes. Mr. Johnson anticipated next steps for engagement after this

567
00:40:46,156 --> 00:40:50,077
material has become public. Thanks very much. And through the

568
00:40:50,077 --> 00:40:53,757
mayor, once the initial conversations and deliberations have been had.

569
00:40:53,757 --> 00:40:57,997
By council once we're ready to actually publish a draft

570
00:40:57,997 --> 00:40:59,997
for the public to respond to. We would open it

571
00:40:59,997 --> 00:41:04,250
up again like we did in previous years. For approximately

572
00:41:04,250 --> 00:41:07,610
four weeks time and compile all of the responses that

573
00:41:07,610 --> 00:41:11,296
we did through written and video submissions. Tabulate that. Put

574
00:41:11,296 --> 00:41:14,016
it into some analysis and report back to council, and

575
00:41:14,016 --> 00:41:17,970
I'll see. That. Okay, so that would be probably before

576
00:41:17,970 --> 00:41:20,970
Christmas, but then the results after Christmas could be that'll.

577
00:41:20,970 --> 00:41:23,770
Depend on us. Pardon? That will depend on us. Yes.

578
00:41:25,549 --> 00:41:29,709
Okay, got it. The vic PD appeal, which was, I

579
00:41:29,709 --> 00:41:34,812
understand. Partially because of the esquamult objection to some values

580
00:41:34,812 --> 00:41:41,643
in a previous year. The city expected. A decision at

581
00:41:41,643 --> 00:41:44,563
particular time and actually set aside some funding. So we

582
00:41:44,563 --> 00:41:48,123
haven't adapted to that this time. Is there something within

583
00:41:48,123 --> 00:41:53,974
the budget that kind of anticipates. That the appeal may

584
00:41:53,974 --> 00:41:58,793
be successful. Something. Through the mayor. I know what you're

585
00:41:58,793 --> 00:42:01,273
referring to, and that was a previous appeal, so. No,

586
00:42:01,273 --> 00:42:03,873
nothing has been set aside for this one. Okay. Thank

587
00:42:03,873 --> 00:42:09,054
you. That's my general question. Very good, Councilor Loton. Thanks,

588
00:42:09,054 --> 00:42:16,164
censor you. Mayor, I just want to clarify. On the

589
00:42:16,164 --> 00:42:20,284
2027 capital projects that need a decision in 2026, even

590
00:42:20,284 --> 00:42:25,238
though we don't. Start paying the debt until 2027. This

591
00:42:25,238 --> 00:42:29,958
doesn't lower the 2026 tax increase in any way, Ms.

592
00:42:29,958 --> 00:42:34,051
Thompson. If you're referring to the capital projects that are

593
00:42:34,051 --> 00:42:37,011
debt funded, so it depends on which one you're talking

594
00:42:37,011 --> 00:42:42,414
about. So three of them. Would their debt repayment would

595
00:42:42,414 --> 00:42:46,614
come in in 2027, but the capital budget is identified

596
00:42:46,614 --> 00:42:49,374
for 2026. So that is where we would need council's

597
00:42:49,374 --> 00:42:54,365
direction. To not implement them in 2026. If that's what

598
00:42:54,365 --> 00:42:57,685
council wishes to do, they're. One project that would have

599
00:42:57,685 --> 00:43:00,725
a tax increase associated with it in 2026 as the

600
00:43:00,725 --> 00:43:04,991
crystal pool replacement. Okay. And then the other three don't,

601
00:43:04,991 --> 00:43:09,165
okay? Do we know if the nine additional officers in

602
00:43:09,165 --> 00:43:13,941
the eleven point plan have been hired? I can answer

603
00:43:13,941 --> 00:43:19,697
that. But you could as well. It's my understanding that.

604
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:25,440
The police chief has negotiated a new relationship with the

605
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:28,960
police union to allow for those nine officers to be

606
00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:34,100
hired on a three year contract. With very robust. I

607
00:43:34,100 --> 00:43:40,735
believe they're calling. Them. Not benchmarks but restrictions on whether

608
00:43:40,735 --> 00:43:42,735
or not they have any impact in which they have

609
00:43:42,735 --> 00:43:46,575
no impact on the regular officer pool or the hierarchy

610
00:43:46,575 --> 00:43:50,335
of advancement within that pool. I believe they announced this

611
00:43:50,335 --> 00:43:52,655
new program a few weeks ago, and so they've gone

612
00:43:52,655 --> 00:43:57,335
out in a fairly aggressive hiring program. And my understanding

613
00:43:57,335 --> 00:44:00,555
is. That they're expecting to have a number of them,

614
00:44:00,555 --> 00:44:02,555
if not all of them, in place. Within a matter

615
00:44:02,555 --> 00:44:09,837
of weeks. Okay. How does that affect. So there was

616
00:44:09,837 --> 00:44:14,437
1.35 million allocated to them in the eleven point blan,

617
00:44:14,437 --> 00:44:16,757
but then. It is also ongoing. So if they're not

618
00:44:16,757 --> 00:44:22,252
hired until the end of 2025, does that affect. The

619
00:44:22,252 --> 00:44:25,692
ongoing budget or the budget that was allocated for them

620
00:44:25,692 --> 00:44:29,639
in the eleven point plan. Through the mayor. So I

621
00:44:29,639 --> 00:44:31,919
just wanted to note that the screen in front of

622
00:44:31,919 --> 00:44:34,439
you here, where we are showing the community safety and

623
00:44:34,439 --> 00:44:42,995
well being. Portion identified over two years. Because we will

624
00:44:42,995 --> 00:44:46,795
not be spending the full amount that council allocated in

625
00:44:46,795 --> 00:44:51,235
2025. We're able to phase in the increases over 2026

626
00:44:51,235 --> 00:44:55,155
and 2027. So the police have not we have not

627
00:44:55,155 --> 00:44:57,715
allocated any funding to the police. We will do so

628
00:44:57,715 --> 00:45:02,356
as they have hired. The staff that we were paying

629
00:45:02,356 --> 00:45:06,436
for, and so that will stay with the city until

630
00:45:06,436 --> 00:45:11,393
that point. Which, based on our anticipation around how much

631
00:45:11,393 --> 00:45:14,274
they're going to spend this year, We will have money

632
00:45:14,274 --> 00:45:18,354
to carry forward into 2026, which then allows us to

633
00:45:18,354 --> 00:45:22,302
spread the impact. Of the total implementation over two years.

634
00:45:22,302 --> 00:45:25,102
Here. Okay, thank you. That's it for me, mayor. Thank

635
00:45:25,102 --> 00:45:29,462
you, Councilor Thompson. General questions. Yes. Thank you, mayor. And

636
00:45:29,462 --> 00:45:34,877
through you. Thanks for all this. The. Business to residential

637
00:45:34,877 --> 00:45:39,554
ratio. Was at 3.5. It's heading to 3.0. It's at

638
00:45:39,554 --> 00:45:42,034
3.4. For this coming year. I think I heard you

639
00:45:42,034 --> 00:45:45,903
say. Through the Mary? Yes, that is council's direction. Okay.

640
00:45:48,493 --> 00:45:51,950
And if that's the final decision. How much would that

641
00:45:51,950 --> 00:45:55,670
be in terms of dollars in reduced taxation for business?

642
00:45:57,361 --> 00:46:01,446
In the coming year. Through the mayor. Unfortunately, I don't

643
00:46:01,446 --> 00:46:03,286
have all the information to be able to answer that.

644
00:46:03,286 --> 00:46:07,246
Question because it really depends on BC assessments assess value

645
00:46:07,246 --> 00:46:12,198
changes between the two classes, so. I won't have the

646
00:46:12,198 --> 00:46:14,838
actual answer until the end of March. Would it be

647
00:46:14,838 --> 00:46:18,158
possible to. Estimate it using existing year, even though we

648
00:46:18,158 --> 00:46:19,798
know it's going to change a little bit. I mean,

649
00:46:19,798 --> 00:46:23,180
I don't think it's going to change radically. Through the

650
00:46:23,180 --> 00:46:25,140
mayor. So I do not have what they call the

651
00:46:25,140 --> 00:46:27,140
completed role yet. I don't. Get that until the end

652
00:46:27,140 --> 00:46:30,809
of December. So after that point, we might be able

653
00:46:30,809 --> 00:46:33,289
to have a general sense. So all I can tell

654
00:46:33,289 --> 00:46:36,129
you is what happened last year, which is when we

655
00:46:36,129 --> 00:46:43,746
had a 6.99 overall. And business. Reduced to 5.6. And

656
00:46:43,746 --> 00:46:48,636
the residential went up to 8.18. But I unfortunately can't

657
00:46:48,636 --> 00:46:51,699
give you a more precise answer than that. Can you

658
00:46:51,699 --> 00:46:54,899
tell us how many dollars for last year? Then how

659
00:46:54,899 --> 00:47:02,737
many dollars came from. Business versus residential. Through the mayor.

660
00:47:02,737 --> 00:47:04,057
No, I don't have that off the top of my

661
00:47:04,057 --> 00:47:06,057
head, but we can certainly look that up and calculate

662
00:47:06,057 --> 00:47:11,508
it. Okay, thanks. On slide 29, which we're on. This

663
00:47:11,508 --> 00:47:13,028
may be more of a question for the mayor. Actually.

664
00:47:14,820 --> 00:47:16,260
We have on community safety and well being. We have

665
00:47:16,260 --> 00:47:20,580
blank spots for 2028 to 2030. I assume that in

666
00:47:20,580 --> 00:47:23,300
coming years those won't be blank, and I'm just wondering.

667
00:47:23,300 --> 00:47:26,300
As somebody who's intimately familiar. If you're able to estimate

668
00:47:26,300 --> 00:47:29,340
whether it would be in the same ballpark as 20,

669
00:47:29,340 --> 00:47:32,780
26, 27. That's a great question, and thank you. For

670
00:47:32,780 --> 00:47:35,042
pointing that. I think Ms. Thompson alluded to that. In

671
00:47:35,042 --> 00:47:39,463
her presentation. But what will happen is in 2027. The

672
00:47:39,463 --> 00:47:42,743
council of that day will assess the progress and output

673
00:47:42,743 --> 00:47:45,623
and impact of the community safety and well being plan.

674
00:47:47,466 --> 00:47:50,306
And the enacted actions within it within the two years

675
00:47:50,306 --> 00:47:55,595
26 and 27, and when they will assess. What is

676
00:47:55,595 --> 00:47:59,555
necessary in subsequent years based upon the output of the

677
00:47:59,555 --> 00:48:02,795
actions taken in 26 and 27. I think it would

678
00:48:02,795 --> 00:48:05,890
be fair to say that, certainly. It is, the more

679
00:48:05,890 --> 00:48:09,050
than I hope. It is the presumption that as investments

680
00:48:09,050 --> 00:48:13,970
are taken, upstream in the intervention. Third of the allocations

681
00:48:13,970 --> 00:48:18,550
that the impact of those interventions. Will slow the requirement

682
00:48:18,550 --> 00:48:23,367
for a response or enforcement aspect. And so the reason

683
00:48:23,367 --> 00:48:24,887
it's not there is for sure because we don't want

684
00:48:24,887 --> 00:48:26,767
to just guess. But the other reason is that there

685
00:48:26,767 --> 00:48:32,192
is a high confidence that the output. And the result

686
00:48:32,192 --> 00:48:35,472
of the work that's being done in 26 27 will

687
00:48:35,472 --> 00:48:38,592
show such results. That it will either shift where money

688
00:48:38,592 --> 00:48:40,792
is put or it will, in fact, reduce where money

689
00:48:40,792 --> 00:48:46,775
is. Put. Upstream, generally meaning other levels of government. Partially,

690
00:48:46,775 --> 00:48:49,895
but also more specifically, as you will recall, in looking

691
00:48:49,895 --> 00:48:53,175
through the community safety wellbeing plan. More than a third

692
00:48:53,175 --> 00:48:58,135
of the recommendations speak to enhanced investment in service provision.

693
00:48:59,691 --> 00:49:02,931
In education and collaboration in support of existing services and

694
00:49:02,931 --> 00:49:06,611
enhancement of them, and another third of it is actually

695
00:49:06,611 --> 00:49:11,371
focused on destination creation and support services in collaboration with

696
00:49:11,371 --> 00:49:14,051
other orders of government to ensure that the folks who.

697
00:49:15,627 --> 00:49:18,387
Are responded to in the most urgent sense and in

698
00:49:18,387 --> 00:49:21,027
the most, I would argue, conventional sense from an enforcement

699
00:49:21,027 --> 00:49:25,510
perspective are reduced in number and reduced in acuity. Thank

700
00:49:25,510 --> 00:49:30,199
you for that. Over. To slide 32.

701
00:49:36,851 --> 00:49:42,146
So. One other. We are crystal pool on the middle

702
00:49:42,146 --> 00:49:47,552
bullet. Identify reduction options to offset upcoming debt servicing for

703
00:49:47,552 --> 00:49:54,465
crystal pool. I assume that's spending reductions. Thompson. Through the

704
00:49:54,465 --> 00:49:57,065
mayor. No, this was actually council's direction to say, we

705
00:49:57,065 --> 00:49:59,545
do not want a tax increase related to the debt

706
00:49:59,545 --> 00:50:02,185
for the pool. So this is the debt repayment, so

707
00:50:02,185 --> 00:50:06,787
not. Reducing the scope of the project. Sorry. What are

708
00:50:06,787 --> 00:50:10,867
the reduction options? What's being reduced with those? That was

709
00:50:10,867 --> 00:50:16,903
for staff to. Identify. Other things to cut, basically to

710
00:50:16,903 --> 00:50:21,343
fit the pool debt servicing in without a tax increase

711
00:50:21,343 --> 00:50:25,995
and could those be both capital and operational reductions. Yes,

712
00:50:25,995 --> 00:50:27,875
it could be, as long as they were property tax

713
00:50:27,875 --> 00:50:31,875
funded. Okay. And that was council direction. For staff to

714
00:50:31,875 --> 00:50:35,826
do that, correct? Correct. Thank you. Just to be clear,

715
00:50:35,826 --> 00:50:39,186
you're not talking about reductions to the crystal pool project?

716
00:50:39,186 --> 00:50:42,266
No. You're talking about other reductions in order to allow

717
00:50:42,266 --> 00:50:45,386
for the envelope to remain solid for the crystal pool,

718
00:50:45,386 --> 00:50:48,386
correct? Yes. Thank you. Just to clarify. Yes, thanks for

719
00:50:48,386 --> 00:50:57,700
that. Capital program reductions. Just want to ask quickly about.

720
00:50:57,700 --> 00:51:00,740
So I understand that with all the capital program reductions

721
00:51:00,740 --> 00:51:06,140
anticipated, I think appendix A. We're looking at scalebacks, not

722
00:51:06,140 --> 00:51:09,340
stopping funding. Is that correct? I see. Nodding head, okay?

723
00:51:10,940 --> 00:51:13,820
We'll be going through those line by line shortly. I

724
00:51:13,820 --> 00:51:16,020
could probably wait on some of these questions then for

725
00:51:16,020 --> 00:51:20,007
that, line by line. Okay, thanks. Any other general questions?

726
00:51:21,609 --> 00:51:25,785
Yes, Councilor Loton. Go ahead. Thanks to you, Mayor. Sorry,

727
00:51:25,785 --> 00:51:28,585
just a bit of a follow up to my question

728
00:51:28,585 --> 00:51:34,864
about. The 2026 capital projects, the three of them. Hypothetically,

729
00:51:34,864 --> 00:51:39,064
if they were deferred until 2027, is there any way

730
00:51:39,064 --> 00:51:42,144
to project how much more expensive they would become in

731
00:51:42,144 --> 00:51:48,328
2027? Or. Is that not possible? Thompson. Through the mayor.

732
00:51:51,228 --> 00:51:55,114
It's not totally possible because. We just don't know what's

733
00:51:55,114 --> 00:51:58,194
going to happen. The latest report that we have from

734
00:51:58,194 --> 00:52:03,355
the BC construction association is that. Things were flattening out

735
00:52:03,355 --> 00:52:07,881
a bit. They see, whereas we've seen over the last

736
00:52:07,881 --> 00:52:15,104
number of years. 15% increases in construction costs again. It's

737
00:52:15,104 --> 00:52:18,184
very limited snapshot and time. Who knows if it's actually

738
00:52:18,184 --> 00:52:21,584
going to remain clear, especially now that the federal government

739
00:52:21,584 --> 00:52:29,301
announced a very ambitious infrastructure. Sort of. Stimulation, whatever stimulus

740
00:52:29,301 --> 00:52:34,134
package. So that might trigger increases again, but they were

741
00:52:34,134 --> 00:52:38,713
estimating around 4%. Is what the Visa Construction association was

742
00:52:38,713 --> 00:52:42,313
talking about, but again, it really is a crystal wall.

743
00:52:43,804 --> 00:52:48,007
When it comes to that. Okay, thanks. That's a very

744
00:52:48,007 --> 00:52:54,576
conservative estimate. Any other general comments, councilor Coleman? Just to

745
00:52:54,576 --> 00:52:58,096
follow up to that question, because as construction flattens out,

746
00:52:58,096 --> 00:53:02,296
you also have the migration either in migration route migration

747
00:53:02,296 --> 00:53:05,936
of the labor force that can actually complete that. So

748
00:53:05,936 --> 00:53:09,583
has there been any discussion. About where the flattening out

749
00:53:09,583 --> 00:53:13,143
may impact our labor capability. To actually complete some of

750
00:53:13,143 --> 00:53:17,907
those projects. Thompson has that been a consideration or discussion,

751
00:53:17,907 --> 00:53:21,481
Mr. Newman. Yes. Steve Marin. Thank you for the question.

752
00:53:23,206 --> 00:53:26,526
Our conversations with our project managers and some of the

753
00:53:26,526 --> 00:53:29,126
experts we know in the local construction industry. Is that?

754
00:53:31,143 --> 00:53:34,423
With the flattening out of the escalation costs that there

755
00:53:34,423 --> 00:53:38,143
appears to be more labor available on the market, so

756
00:53:38,143 --> 00:53:40,823
it puts us in a more competitive place when we're

757
00:53:40,823 --> 00:53:50,061
procuring large construction projects. Any other general questions? Not seeing

758
00:53:50,061 --> 00:53:53,181
any. All right. So thank you for that introduction. And

759
00:53:53,181 --> 00:53:56,341
robust one it was, indeed. Now. I'm going to ask.

760
00:53:58,893 --> 00:54:02,813
Our able staff to turn to the recommendations presented by

761
00:54:02,813 --> 00:54:06,213
our finance folk. And you will note that there are

762
00:54:06,213 --> 00:54:08,453
three. We're only going to deal with one and we're

763
00:54:08,453 --> 00:54:12,806
going to actually separate one into two parts today. The

764
00:54:12,806 --> 00:54:14,846
second and third one will follow later, and we can

765
00:54:14,846 --> 00:54:19,822
discuss that at that time. As Ms. Thompson has suggested.

766
00:54:19,822 --> 00:54:23,552
First up. I am going to move a motion, and

767
00:54:23,552 --> 00:54:29,737
that is a motion that council direct staff. To add

768
00:54:29,737 --> 00:54:39,667
back to the 2026 draft financial plan. Fund. Yes.

769
00:54:39,667 --> 00:54:42,685
You got it. There you go. And this is as

770
00:54:42,685 --> 00:54:45,605
a result of the direction in one a, so a

771
00:54:45,605 --> 00:54:47,205
little bit later, we're going to format it so that

772
00:54:47,205 --> 00:54:49,445
one a becomes the preference to this. But here's. What?

773
00:54:49,445 --> 00:54:51,805
So you can take a space below that, like a

774
00:54:51,805 --> 00:54:57,702
big space. And then big space. And then, Ms. Rotor,

775
00:54:57,702 --> 00:55:00,382
as you and I discussed earlier today, I would like

776
00:55:00,382 --> 00:55:02,702
you just, and this is not part of the motion.

777
00:55:02,702 --> 00:55:06,062
It's for the information of the public and the council.

778
00:55:06,062 --> 00:55:09,582
I'd like you to display the entire list of appendix

779
00:55:09,582 --> 00:55:14,331
a. Second. Just a second. Hang on. I'm going to

780
00:55:14,331 --> 00:55:20,828
tell you how we're going. To do. Yes, I know

781
00:55:20,828 --> 00:55:22,828
it's tough to do this a split screen, so I

782
00:55:22,828 --> 00:55:26,068
am not proposing. Just so you know, just to clarify,

783
00:55:26,068 --> 00:55:27,788
before I look for a second, I'm not proposing. All

784
00:55:27,788 --> 00:55:32,011
of those things. What I'm proposing only is the first

785
00:55:32,011 --> 00:55:34,451
line that council directs staff to add back into. The

786
00:55:34,451 --> 00:55:37,563
draft plan. And yes, I'll look for a secondary for

787
00:55:37,563 --> 00:55:39,803
that one line, but the important part is I'm going

788
00:55:39,803 --> 00:55:43,443
to then ask counsel which of items one through 18.

789
00:55:45,428 --> 00:55:49,194
They wish to add back in. Rather than putting them

790
00:55:49,194 --> 00:55:52,914
all forward and having to delete, I'm anticipating, I hope,

791
00:55:52,914 --> 00:55:55,994
that there are fewer of these to be added in

792
00:55:55,994 --> 00:55:59,565
than removed. So I actually don't even need a secondary

793
00:55:59,565 --> 00:56:04,463
at this point because. The motion isn't complete. When we

794
00:56:04,463 --> 00:56:07,900
get to the point where. Maybe there's none, but I

795
00:56:07,900 --> 00:56:09,660
presume there are a few. When we get to the

796
00:56:09,660 --> 00:56:11,900
point of being able to add whichever ones people want

797
00:56:11,900 --> 00:56:14,100
to add back in, then that will complete the motion,

798
00:56:14,100 --> 00:56:17,389
and then I will look for a secondary. I will

799
00:56:17,389 --> 00:56:19,069
also say that we will have an opportunity, because I

800
00:56:19,069 --> 00:56:22,189
do not expect this to be in any way unanimous

801
00:56:22,189 --> 00:56:25,149
that we will likely have to vote on each one

802
00:56:25,149 --> 00:56:29,549
of these individually. So. Let's start in a general conversation,

803
00:56:29,549 --> 00:56:32,229
and I will just say from a procedural perspective, yes.

804
00:56:32,229 --> 00:56:34,989
We are bound, usually by a twelve minute time limit

805
00:56:34,989 --> 00:56:38,025
for each agenda item, I will note. For you. That

806
00:56:38,025 --> 00:56:41,945
one agenda item is the 2026 2030 draft financial plan.

807
00:56:43,352 --> 00:56:44,992
It would be, in my view, as the chair, highly

808
00:56:44,992 --> 00:56:47,632
unreasonable to expect us to deal with every aspect of

809
00:56:47,632 --> 00:56:50,969
that in twelve minutes. And so, as I mentioned earlier,

810
00:56:50,969 --> 00:56:56,375
there are four blocks of considerations here. Appendix a, appendix

811
00:56:56,375 --> 00:57:00,454
b. Additional items that might arise from council and potential

812
00:57:00,454 --> 00:57:03,774
future direction. So I'm going to block each one of

813
00:57:03,774 --> 00:57:06,334
those as one part of the agenda, so that in

814
00:57:06,334 --> 00:57:09,414
each one of those, you will get twelve minutes. So

815
00:57:09,414 --> 00:57:11,934
that means you have four times the regular length of

816
00:57:11,934 --> 00:57:15,214
time to deal. With this item. I think that's reasonable.

817
00:57:15,214 --> 00:57:16,854
So before I look for a secondary of what will

818
00:57:16,854 --> 00:57:20,073
ultimately become mot. Motion to add something back in. I'm

819
00:57:20,073 --> 00:57:22,633
going to run the table and just ask the question.

820
00:57:24,387 --> 00:57:26,587
So we're building the motion together. I'm going to ask

821
00:57:26,587 --> 00:57:30,385
the question, is there anything on this list. Which you

822
00:57:30,385 --> 00:57:33,545
will be reminded, as Ms. Thompson said, has already been

823
00:57:33,545 --> 00:57:38,065
removed from the 2026 financial plan. Is there anything on

824
00:57:38,065 --> 00:57:41,867
this list you want to put back in? Start over

825
00:57:41,867 --> 00:57:50,027
here. Hammond. No. Okay. Councilor lowton. Yes.

826
00:57:51,872 --> 00:57:55,152
The number four, the growing in the city grants. Okay,

827
00:57:55,152 --> 00:57:57,232
so that's a great example. So. Ms. Rotor. If you

828
00:57:57,232 --> 00:57:59,312
can clip that and move it back to the left

829
00:57:59,312 --> 00:58:02,232
side of the page. Once we get the list, then

830
00:58:02,232 --> 00:58:04,272
we'll go through each one of them and provide an

831
00:58:04,272 --> 00:58:07,392
opportunity for questions to staff about what they are, in

832
00:58:07,392 --> 00:58:09,352
which case you may wish to remove them. If your

833
00:58:09,352 --> 00:58:14,358
answers are sufficiently. Influential. Or to amend it if you

834
00:58:14,358 --> 00:58:17,358
want to put in a different number. So, Councilor Lowton.

835
00:58:17,358 --> 00:58:20,199
Anything else? Is it just that one? Just that one.

836
00:58:21,514 --> 00:58:25,794
Councilor Thompson. How about you? Yes. Number six, pro Arts

837
00:58:25,794 --> 00:58:31,400
alliance. Okay. And what number is it? 14. The youth

838
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:35,720
bus program. And depending on what my other colleagues mentioned,

839
00:58:35,720 --> 00:58:37,760
I may have some more to add. Sure. We'll do

840
00:58:37,760 --> 00:58:40,120
it twice just to make sure. Everyone gets a chance.

841
00:58:40,120 --> 00:58:49,715
Thanks. So that's it? Councilor Kim. Sorry. Am I

842
00:58:49,715 --> 00:58:52,395
limited to. No. Okay. No. You can pick them all

843
00:58:52,395 --> 00:58:55,004
if you want. Don't top me with a good time.

844
00:58:57,297 --> 00:58:59,697
You may understand now why I anticipated that we might

845
00:58:59,697 --> 00:59:02,897
not even get through this today. I'm. Aware. Yeah. Okay.

846
00:59:04,281 --> 00:59:09,865
Number eight. My great neighborhood. France. All right. Number nine

847
00:59:09,865 --> 00:59:14,598
theater scam. And while you're there, number ten, Butler Book

848
00:59:14,598 --> 00:59:22,829
prize and Children's Book prize. Number ten. Number twelve. Twelve.

849
00:59:22,829 --> 00:59:28,685
Okay? Did we do 13 yet. Poet laureate and youth

850
00:59:28,685 --> 00:59:38,495
poet laureate 13. And 1818 Crossfox. Thanks.

851
00:59:41,512 --> 00:59:46,717
Council cardano. Thanks, mayor. There was two, but one was

852
00:59:46,717 --> 00:59:48,197
sort of already mentioned. But I won't come back to

853
00:59:48,197 --> 00:59:51,237
it. The first was the South Island Prosperity Partnership. Want

854
00:59:51,237 --> 00:59:54,741
to remove that? I'm not sure what to do with

855
00:59:54,741 --> 00:59:59,392
it because. I was going to amend number eight. That's

856
00:59:59,392 --> 01:00:01,672
okay. When we deal with each one, we'll have an

857
01:00:01,672 --> 01:00:03,792
opportunity to amend. Okay, I'll just leave that. We're just.

858
01:00:03,792 --> 01:00:06,752
Starting with identifying them, we're going to go through them

859
01:00:06,752 --> 01:00:09,712
each individually and ask questions of staff if we need

860
01:00:09,712 --> 01:00:12,992
to, make, comments if we need to, and amendments if

861
01:00:12,992 --> 01:00:19,562
we need to. Anything else? Councilor Coleman. Councilor Doe. None

862
01:00:19,562 --> 01:00:23,627
for me, thank you, Councilor Gardner. Thank you. Mine was

863
01:00:23,627 --> 01:00:27,519
sif, and that's been taken. And I didn't know if

864
01:00:27,519 --> 01:00:28,839
we can have a discussion. I don't know if. It

865
01:00:28,839 --> 01:00:30,439
was an honor. Or off. Or not. That'll be number

866
01:00:30,439 --> 01:00:34,919
17. I'm not. Sure. Traffic signals? Sure, let's put them

867
01:00:34,919 --> 01:00:38,199
on. Because this is the opportunity to ask questions. Of

868
01:00:38,199 --> 01:00:44,415
each one of them. Staff. Thank you. All right. Does

869
01:00:44,415 --> 01:00:48,378
anyone wish to have a second chance? There are twelve

870
01:00:48,378 --> 01:00:52,151
of the 18 removals. Now back. Go ahead, Councilor Thompson.

871
01:00:52,151 --> 01:00:54,511
You know what would be useful is if it's too

872
01:00:54,511 --> 01:00:56,191
late. Now, but if we had a list of what's

873
01:00:56,191 --> 01:01:02,751
not brought over. There's only. Can you highlight the ones

874
01:01:02,751 --> 01:01:06,511
that were not moved so there'd only be six of

875
01:01:06,511 --> 01:01:15,088
them? I guess seven of them. Thank you. Five. That

876
01:01:15,088 --> 01:01:23,009
one is brought. Hanging baskets was not moved. EV charging

877
01:01:23,009 --> 01:01:26,489
stations was not moved and multimolit card is was not

878
01:01:26,489 --> 01:01:30,449
moved. I believe the rest were all moved. 123-4567 yes,

879
01:01:30,449 --> 01:01:33,129
that math works. Eleven and seven is 18. So the

880
01:01:33,129 --> 01:01:35,569
ones highlighted in yellow. It's great. Thank you for asking

881
01:01:35,569 --> 01:01:42,973
that question. We're not moved. And so those. Ones unless

882
01:01:42,973 --> 01:01:46,695
someone does something before we finish this. They will remain

883
01:01:46,695 --> 01:01:51,455
in direction staff to not put them in the 2026

884
01:01:51,455 --> 01:01:56,335
budget, so those remain. As removals. Correct, Ms. Thompson. Everything

885
01:01:56,335 --> 01:01:58,895
that's in yellow on the right hand side continues. To

886
01:01:58,895 --> 01:02:04,054
be removed from the 2026 budget? That's correct. Great. Okay,

887
01:02:04,054 --> 01:02:07,094
so now what I'm going to do. Mayor. Yes. I'd

888
01:02:07,094 --> 01:02:10,015
like to add one. Number eleven, because I think it's

889
01:02:10,015 --> 01:02:12,775
a public interest. Hanging baskets. Okay, so we'll. Take eleven

890
01:02:12,775 --> 01:02:17,240
and pass it over to the left. take that out

891
01:02:17,240 --> 01:02:22,412
of the color that's right Thanks very much. And you

892
01:02:22,412 --> 01:02:24,372
can take the color off that one. Great. Thanks so

893
01:02:24,372 --> 01:02:27,452
much. Thank you. Staff, and kudos to you for following.

894
01:02:27,452 --> 01:02:28,652
It's going to be like this for a long time.

895
01:02:31,074 --> 01:02:35,514
All right, so now we have the guts of emotion.

896
01:02:35,514 --> 01:02:37,434
And so what I'm going to suggest is at this

897
01:02:37,434 --> 01:02:40,394
point now, despite the fact that I'm fairly confident that

898
01:02:40,394 --> 01:02:42,474
at least some of these will change if not be

899
01:02:42,474 --> 01:02:46,531
removed again. I'm going to ask for a seconder for

900
01:02:46,531 --> 01:02:49,611
that motion so that then we can. Properly, begin to

901
01:02:49,611 --> 01:02:54,211
ask questions, make comments, make adjustments, move to move to

902
01:02:54,211 --> 01:02:56,291
remove them or whatever, and I will just make a

903
01:02:56,291 --> 01:02:58,811
point on that last piece. Despite the fact that under

904
01:02:58,811 --> 01:03:02,691
usual procedure, if I've moved item one, and you move

905
01:03:02,691 --> 01:03:05,249
an amendment to remove it, that would usually be. Out

906
01:03:05,249 --> 01:03:08,089
of order. But in this case, because of the formatting

907
01:03:08,089 --> 01:03:10,289
of trying to make this as simple. Possible. I'm not

908
01:03:10,289 --> 01:03:13,140
going to rule that out of order. This is an

909
01:03:13,140 --> 01:03:15,500
attempt to try and make this as conversational as possible

910
01:03:15,500 --> 01:03:19,550
while at least observing the baseline of the procedures. So

911
01:03:19,550 --> 01:03:22,110
d one. Then on the left hand side is a

912
01:03:22,110 --> 01:03:25,710
motion that council directs staff to add. Back to the

913
01:03:25,710 --> 01:03:29,910
2026 draft financial plan or return in my head growing

914
01:03:29,910 --> 01:03:33,350
in the city grant 75,000 Pro art alliance 8000 Youth

915
01:03:33,350 --> 01:03:38,430
Bus Pass program 630 my great neighborhood grants 152 theater

916
01:03:38,430 --> 01:03:41,361
scam 20. The Butler Book Prize and Children's Book prize.

917
01:03:41,361 --> 01:03:45,721
Ten. The operational adjustment for response for vertically. Emergent services.

918
01:03:45,721 --> 01:03:49,561
I think that is 1.1 million. The poet and youth

919
01:03:49,561 --> 01:03:53,321
laureate set eight the crossword installations at 64, Sip of

920
01:03:53,321 --> 01:03:57,241
242, new traffic signals at 50, and the hanging basket

921
01:03:57,241 --> 01:04:01,902
program at 130 with. That, then, councilor Cardano, would you

922
01:04:01,902 --> 01:04:05,182
still like to move that v seconder? Okay, so. Thank

923
01:04:05,182 --> 01:04:07,182
you, Ms. Ruder. You can take appendix from the right

924
01:04:07,182 --> 01:04:10,158
off the screen. Thank you for doing that. That's really

925
01:04:10,158 --> 01:04:14,785
helpful. And then with that motion now on the floor,

926
01:04:16,581 --> 01:04:17,981
I'm not going to make any comments at this point

927
01:04:17,981 --> 01:04:20,621
because I think right now we're going to ask questions

928
01:04:20,621 --> 01:04:24,341
and clarify. So I'll start just by convention with councilor.

929
01:04:24,341 --> 01:04:27,621
Gardona, do you have any questions for any of these

930
01:04:27,621 --> 01:04:31,480
one through twelve? Do you have any amendments to one

931
01:04:31,480 --> 01:04:35,024
through twelve? If you don't, I'm going to just start

932
01:04:35,024 --> 01:04:36,944
at the top and deal with them one at a

933
01:04:36,944 --> 01:04:42,485
time. I'm a little unclear because. I had put South

934
01:04:42,485 --> 01:04:44,885
island on there, right? But it's way down at number

935
01:04:44,885 --> 01:04:49,165
ten. These. Are not priorities. We're going to deal with

936
01:04:49,165 --> 01:04:51,605
each of them individually, so we're going to go. Sequentially.

937
01:04:51,605 --> 01:04:54,220
Yes, but. Were there any global questions would be appropriate.

938
01:04:54,220 --> 01:04:55,700
Or maybe I'll wait till that number, because. I have

939
01:04:55,700 --> 01:04:57,740
a question. Yeah. Why don't you wait till that number?

940
01:04:57,740 --> 01:04:59,300
Okay, so that would. Make sense. Okay, but I'm a

941
01:04:59,300 --> 01:05:01,740
little unclear, because if someone's supposed to be. Motivating for

942
01:05:01,740 --> 01:05:04,380
number one, then I'm going to ask right now. I

943
01:05:04,380 --> 01:05:06,340
was turning to you out of courtesy as the secondary

944
01:05:06,340 --> 01:05:08,260
to the whole thing. But if you don't. Want to

945
01:05:08,260 --> 01:05:10,060
make any comments at this point. What I'm now going

946
01:05:10,060 --> 01:05:12,460
to say is, does anyone wish to ask a question,

947
01:05:12,460 --> 01:05:14,333
make a comment or. Make an amendment to number one.

948
01:05:15,719 --> 01:05:20,155
Okay. Councilor Coleman. Do you have something, general? Otherwise, I'm

949
01:05:20,155 --> 01:05:22,475
going to start going through the list. It's a general

950
01:05:22,475 --> 01:05:26,035
question through you to Ms. Thompson. Yes, if I've done

951
01:05:26,035 --> 01:05:28,835
the quick calculation properly. What we've done is we've added

952
01:05:28,835 --> 01:05:34,915
2.5 million. Back into the budget. That's a 1.4% increase

953
01:05:34,915 --> 01:05:38,897
over and above. Is that. Correct. And when you answer

954
01:05:38,897 --> 01:05:41,137
that, Ms. Thompson, you could clarify that you and I

955
01:05:41,137 --> 01:05:44,417
have discussed about the fact that you're brilliant math people

956
01:05:44,417 --> 01:05:46,377
are going to be kind of running a tab as

957
01:05:46,377 --> 01:05:49,657
we go through this. And after each one, before we

958
01:05:49,657 --> 01:05:52,137
vote on the final motion, we'll be able to get

959
01:05:52,137 --> 01:05:53,697
a sense from you of where that would put us.

960
01:05:55,120 --> 01:05:59,275
Through the mayor. Yes, absolutely. And yes, Councilor Coleman, it's

961
01:05:59,275 --> 01:06:04,216
2.48. 9 million that was added back. Which would bring

962
01:06:04,216 --> 01:06:12,580
the 8.29 overall. Up to 9.56. Thank you. Very good

963
01:06:12,580 --> 01:06:16,112
question. And I think what we'll do is we'll deal

964
01:06:16,112 --> 01:06:18,672
just with the city portion. And we all know setting

965
01:06:18,672 --> 01:06:22,632
aside the police portion is another 5.2%, so we'll set

966
01:06:22,632 --> 01:06:25,312
that aside for the moment and just speak about the

967
01:06:25,312 --> 01:06:29,972
city's portion. So let's start with number one. It was

968
01:06:29,972 --> 01:06:32,652
proposed to have that returned, and I didn't note by

969
01:06:32,652 --> 01:06:35,212
whom. It's not really important at this point, but are

970
01:06:35,212 --> 01:06:39,012
there questions, comments or changes to the growing in the

971
01:06:39,012 --> 01:06:44,182
city's grant proposal to return that into the budget. Councilor

972
01:06:44,182 --> 01:06:52,726
Hammond? Yes. Question. Yeah, thanks. Mayor, I'm looking at the

973
01:06:52,726 --> 01:06:57,107
description of this. In the eight page document that we've

974
01:06:57,107 --> 01:06:59,905
got of all of these things. And so, just to

975
01:06:59,905 --> 01:07:05,782
be clear, Is this 30% meaning it leaving 70% or

976
01:07:05,782 --> 01:07:10,853
thereabouts of the growing in the city grant. Mr. Newman,

977
01:07:10,853 --> 01:07:16,872
is that your alien? Three. Mayor yes, that is correct.

978
01:07:16,872 --> 01:07:22,032
Okay. And therefore, these four bullet points below, again, this

979
01:07:22,032 --> 01:07:25,542
is on page six. It's got the community garden, startup

980
01:07:25,542 --> 01:07:30,297
grants growing in the city, micro grants. Getting Growing Victoria

981
01:07:30,297 --> 01:07:37,094
service grant and volunteer coordinator grant by 10,000 annually. So

982
01:07:37,094 --> 01:07:40,960
those are the things. That make up the 75,000, right?

983
01:07:40,960 --> 01:07:44,796
That's what's going to be removed. Dr. Newman. Through you,

984
01:07:44,796 --> 01:07:48,903
mayor yes, that's correct. Okay. Can I then ask what

985
01:07:48,903 --> 01:07:57,210
is left over? There's $140,000 left. In our voluntary coordinator

986
01:07:57,210 --> 01:08:02,687
grant. So this grant stream funds. Not for profit organizations

987
01:08:02,687 --> 01:08:07,851
who organize and operate. Our allotment gardens and community gardens

988
01:08:07,851 --> 01:08:12,293
across the city. And the other three grant streams that

989
01:08:12,293 --> 01:08:15,653
are going to be deferred if this cut is approved

990
01:08:15,653 --> 01:08:19,784
then. All three of those grant streams support a variety

991
01:08:19,784 --> 01:08:28,190
of new community garden initiatives. So. Applying council's principle. To

992
01:08:28,190 --> 01:08:31,430
mitigate adding new assets to the city. We saw alignment

993
01:08:31,430 --> 01:08:35,750
with that while keeping 140,000 in the volunteer coordinator grant

994
01:08:35,750 --> 01:08:39,030
stream to ensure that our existing organizations who operate those

995
01:08:39,030 --> 01:08:45,541
can continue to do so. And yet. The entire grant

996
01:08:45,541 --> 01:08:47,621
that is still all within the growing in the city.

997
01:08:49,280 --> 01:08:54,946
That still is maintained at how much. The. Currently, there's

998
01:08:54,946 --> 01:08:59,306
$150,000 per year. Sorry. Maybe I should ask for clarity.

999
01:08:59,306 --> 01:09:01,426
On the question. Are you asking both for? The total

1000
01:09:01,426 --> 01:09:06,946
grant program is 250 altogether. Sorry, 225 for. The year.

1001
01:09:08,851 --> 01:09:12,731
And then this 75k reduction would leave 140 in only

1002
01:09:12,731 --> 01:09:18,049
the volunteer coordinator grant program. Okay? And therefore, in this

1003
01:09:18,049 --> 01:09:20,849
particular case, the program still exists. We're just reducing it.

1004
01:09:22,790 --> 01:09:26,590
Of the volunteer coordinator, grant Stream. Yes. We are deferring

1005
01:09:26,590 --> 01:09:33,004
three of the other four programs. That are offering. A

1006
01:09:33,004 --> 01:09:37,027
variety of. Other community gardening streams, which are focused on

1007
01:09:37,027 --> 01:09:40,587
setting up new community garden amenities and educational programs in

1008
01:09:40,587 --> 01:09:47,997
the community. Okay. And therefore. As you've described. We're not

1009
01:09:47,997 --> 01:09:49,677
expanding it. Is that an easy way of saying that?

1010
01:09:52,133 --> 01:09:57,521
Through your mayor, correct? Okay, thanks. All right. Any other

1011
01:09:57,521 --> 01:10:02,234
questions on number one, Councilor Gardner? Just for clarification to

1012
01:10:02,234 --> 01:10:07,962
the $140,000, does that mean that the coordinator. Is now

1013
01:10:07,962 --> 01:10:13,916
do not get reduced in number or. In grant. There's

1014
01:10:13,916 --> 01:10:19,824
a modest reduction in this annual grant stream, so. That

1015
01:10:19,824 --> 01:10:24,184
volunteer coordinator Cranstream has currently, as an allotment of 150,000,

1016
01:10:24,184 --> 01:10:26,584
it will be reduced by 10,000 per year, down to

1017
01:10:26,584 --> 01:10:31,267
140,000. But it's seen as a minor reduction in the

1018
01:10:31,267 --> 01:10:34,627
overall grant program and isn't. Anticipated to have a significant

1019
01:10:34,627 --> 01:10:39,307
impact on volunteer organizations that are maintained. My question really

1020
01:10:39,307 --> 01:10:44,707
is, does that decrease what an actual coordinator will receive

1021
01:10:44,707 --> 01:10:49,459
for her stipend as opposed to other expenses. After your

1022
01:10:49,459 --> 01:10:54,326
merit, so. The city doesn't oversee how the grants are

1023
01:10:54,326 --> 01:10:58,286
dispersed once they're awarded to the not for profit organizations.

1024
01:11:02,416 --> 01:11:05,511
So. I can't specifically answer how those organizations want to

1025
01:11:05,511 --> 01:11:14,157
disperse those funds. Number one councilor Lotton. Through you. Mayor,

1026
01:11:14,157 --> 01:11:16,797
do you want comments about this? Sure. Should I get

1027
01:11:16,797 --> 01:11:19,357
rational on the fly? I brought it, so I understand.

1028
01:11:21,438 --> 01:11:24,638
We're not talking about a huge amount of money here,

1029
01:11:24,638 --> 01:11:27,837
however. I don't think we should change any of the

1030
01:11:27,837 --> 01:11:30,477
programming right now. And my main reason for that is

1031
01:11:30,477 --> 01:11:36,203
because. Food costs are skyrocketing. It gives people the ability

1032
01:11:36,203 --> 01:11:38,963
to feed themselves and their families and to feel some

1033
01:11:38,963 --> 01:11:43,638
control. When the basics are becoming more and more expensive

1034
01:11:43,638 --> 01:11:48,310
every day. And it's also not just about food. These

1035
01:11:48,310 --> 01:11:52,972
gardens, they build community. They support pollinators, they cool our

1036
01:11:52,972 --> 01:11:56,897
city, and they help us fight climate change. And again.

1037
01:11:58,130 --> 01:11:59,930
It is just a tiny fraction of the budget that

1038
01:11:59,930 --> 01:12:04,689
we're considering here. And that's very little, but the cost.

1039
01:12:07,484 --> 01:12:09,844
Could change things of the way that we've built this

1040
01:12:09,844 --> 01:12:15,284
program to create community, connection, resilience and local leadership. So

1041
01:12:15,284 --> 01:12:18,604
that's why I brought this, because I think it's. Important

1042
01:12:18,604 --> 01:12:22,084
that we keep investing in this program, because it's not

1043
01:12:22,084 --> 01:12:26,044
just about gardens. It's about empowering our residents, strengthening our

1044
01:12:26,044 --> 01:12:31,511
neighborhoods and. Making Victoria healthy or more connected. And most

1045
01:12:31,511 --> 01:12:35,791
importantly, a more food secure city. Thank you. Thank you.

1046
01:12:35,791 --> 01:12:40,442
Councilor Kim. Thank you. Through the chair. I'd like to

1047
01:12:40,442 --> 01:12:44,852
share an anecdote in favor of maintaining this. Working at

1048
01:12:44,852 --> 01:12:48,933
the Frenwood Community Center. When I did. It is a

1049
01:12:48,933 --> 01:12:51,773
center that is a hub for distribution of seedlings and

1050
01:12:51,773 --> 01:12:57,709
materials. And some of those seedlings that don't get distributed

1051
01:12:57,709 --> 01:13:00,189
will actually end up in the front garden of the

1052
01:13:00,189 --> 01:13:04,737
community center. And. When I was in the lobby one

1053
01:13:04,737 --> 01:13:07,777
time, someone walked in off the street and said, and

1054
01:13:07,777 --> 01:13:11,337
they were east asian like myself and said, what is

1055
01:13:11,337 --> 01:13:14,897
this plant? I have been looking everywhere for it. This

1056
01:13:14,897 --> 01:13:17,657
is a cultural food for me. I don't know where

1057
01:13:17,657 --> 01:13:21,097
I can find it, and. The coordinator of the program

1058
01:13:21,097 --> 01:13:24,023
was like, oh, yeah, no, that's sheso. And. Then this

1059
01:13:24,023 --> 01:13:26,823
person launched into the various dishes that they make at

1060
01:13:26,823 --> 01:13:30,579
home with it. And we would know this as perilla,

1061
01:13:30,579 --> 01:13:34,249
or in korean gin. And so it's like those ways

1062
01:13:34,249 --> 01:13:36,889
that we make people feel so seen in the small

1063
01:13:36,889 --> 01:13:40,419
ways that don't get told. Isn't that worth something too?

1064
01:13:43,414 --> 01:13:53,144
Does it. Thank you, Councilor Hammond. Of this program,

1065
01:13:53,144 --> 01:13:57,025
and only because. I'm not as completely familiar with this

1066
01:13:57,025 --> 01:14:00,878
one, although I've heard people talk about it. Is this

1067
01:14:00,878 --> 01:14:03,478
where? At various times of the city or maybe one

1068
01:14:03,478 --> 01:14:08,482
day or something. We offer seedlings to people? Rick and

1069
01:14:08,482 --> 01:14:13,967
newman. Through you, Mayor Alto, to get growing. Victoria's service

1070
01:14:13,967 --> 01:14:18,047
grant supports the distribution of our seedling. Program. So every

1071
01:14:18,047 --> 01:14:22,407
year, the city propagates in the city's greenhouse is approximately

1072
01:14:22,407 --> 01:14:27,207
93,000 seedlings, and then multiple times per year, we make

1073
01:14:27,207 --> 01:14:34,260
those seedlings available. To the public. And non government organizations

1074
01:14:34,260 --> 01:14:37,660
in order to support us in the distribution of those

1075
01:14:37,660 --> 01:14:40,660
seedlings, which has become a very popular program in the

1076
01:14:40,660 --> 01:14:45,677
community. We allow for a program stream to support the

1077
01:14:45,677 --> 01:14:50,889
distribution. And neighborhoods and community on how to plant and

1078
01:14:50,889 --> 01:14:54,950
cultivate those seedlings. And is this the kind of thing

1079
01:14:54,950 --> 01:15:02,837
where these seedlings. They run out pretty quickly. When they're

1080
01:15:02,837 --> 01:15:05,994
available. Through you, Mary. Yes, they do. It's a very

1081
01:15:05,994 --> 01:15:12,862
popular program. Okay. And it's not based on income. Do

1082
01:15:12,862 --> 01:15:20,765
you, mayor? Not currently, no. Although. We do focus on

1083
01:15:20,765 --> 01:15:30,391
providing. Opportunities. And for organizations that support marginalized communities to

1084
01:15:30,391 --> 01:15:33,151
access those. So there really is effort put into ensuring

1085
01:15:33,151 --> 01:15:37,831
that households that may have food security issues have access

1086
01:15:37,831 --> 01:15:39,991
to these. And that really is a core principle of

1087
01:15:39,991 --> 01:15:44,151
this program, and so our staff do work directly with

1088
01:15:44,151 --> 01:15:47,239
organ. Organizations to ensure that those distribution is getting out

1089
01:15:47,239 --> 01:15:51,294
to those households as a priority. Thanks. And mayor. That

1090
01:15:51,294 --> 01:15:54,130
seems to me a priority for me. The difficulty is

1091
01:15:54,130 --> 01:15:55,530
the little bit that I hear about this, because I'm

1092
01:15:55,530 --> 01:15:59,210
not the gardener. In our family. Jack is. And he

1093
01:15:59,210 --> 01:16:03,089
always hears about this way too late. Because they get

1094
01:16:03,089 --> 01:16:07,739
snapped up really quickly. And as people have said, Rockland

1095
01:16:07,739 --> 01:16:11,499
isn't this uber rich neighborhood for an awful lot. Of

1096
01:16:11,499 --> 01:16:15,838
people because. About 70% are. These old mansions are turned

1097
01:16:15,838 --> 01:16:18,358
into units, and so I know that there's, an awful

1098
01:16:18,358 --> 01:16:21,798
lot of people who fall within our median or below

1099
01:16:21,798 --> 01:16:25,518
median income, and the difficulty I have. If Jack was

1100
01:16:25,518 --> 01:16:28,838
ever to get to these seedlings that we don't deserve.

1101
01:16:28,838 --> 01:16:33,821
Them. My preference is. My preference is for this, and

1102
01:16:33,821 --> 01:16:35,381
I've never had an opportunity to talk. About it before.

1103
01:16:37,200 --> 01:16:40,918
Is. I just don't like the idea of us spending

1104
01:16:40,918 --> 01:16:43,758
tax dollars to give it to people. Who don't need

1105
01:16:43,758 --> 01:16:47,078
them. Whereas for food security and for example, that people

1106
01:16:47,078 --> 01:16:50,677
are talking about I think it's really important. I think

1107
01:16:50,677 --> 01:16:53,037
that's something that we can offer. And the fact that

1108
01:16:53,037 --> 01:16:58,851
there are still $225,000 that's left in this. I would

1109
01:16:58,851 --> 01:17:00,571
like to think that that could be an emphasis, could

1110
01:17:00,571 --> 01:17:03,523
be on going to people who are in need. Dr.

1111
01:17:03,523 --> 01:17:05,563
Newman, just before I go to Councilor Kim, I believe

1112
01:17:05,563 --> 01:17:08,603
you clarified that the current program was 225, and that

1113
01:17:08,603 --> 01:17:10,723
should this reduction be included, it would be less than

1114
01:17:10,723 --> 01:17:15,064
that, correct? Do you marry? Yes, that's correct. So if

1115
01:17:15,064 --> 01:17:18,664
I heard you correctly, if this is approved. Sorry, let's

1116
01:17:18,664 --> 01:17:21,704
say differently. If this is not approved and therefore it

1117
01:17:21,704 --> 01:17:24,104
is removed from the budget again. It's 150. Is that

1118
01:17:24,104 --> 01:17:30,917
what's left for 225? Through your marriage. That's right. Very

1119
01:17:30,917 --> 01:17:38,623
good, Councilor Kim. Yeah. Is it fair to say that

1120
01:17:38,623 --> 01:17:42,838
income. Doesn't factor into when folks go to pick up

1121
01:17:42,838 --> 01:17:47,638
seedlings and it's like, about the community event. From what

1122
01:17:47,638 --> 01:17:52,266
I've seen. Community centers make kind of like a day

1123
01:17:52,266 --> 01:17:56,272
of it. Is this still the case? Through your mayor.

1124
01:17:59,515 --> 01:18:04,919
We have an event for pickup. We do save half

1125
01:18:04,919 --> 01:18:10,997
of the seedlings to ensure that organizations. That are aiming

1126
01:18:10,997 --> 01:18:13,637
to get these seedlings into the hands of individuals that

1127
01:18:13,637 --> 01:18:18,573
are facing barriers. To accessing food and being food secure,

1128
01:18:18,573 --> 01:18:22,693
receive those. So I hope that answers your question. It

1129
01:18:22,693 --> 01:18:27,518
does, yeah. It's actually quite a clever, decentralized, bespoke way

1130
01:18:27,518 --> 01:18:33,070
of doing that distribution. And equitably. My question is about

1131
01:18:33,070 --> 01:18:36,990
the mulch. The funniest topic, the smelliest topic, the mulch.

1132
01:18:36,990 --> 01:18:40,615
That gets distributed with the program. Is it safe to

1133
01:18:40,615 --> 01:18:42,295
say, or fair to say that it's a part of

1134
01:18:42,295 --> 01:18:45,335
a circular economy in Victoria in the way that it

1135
01:18:45,335 --> 01:18:51,722
recycles. I won't reuse it. I don't know. Leaves, branches,

1136
01:18:51,722 --> 01:18:56,794
household yard waste. Dr. Newman yes, to you, mayor. I

1137
01:18:56,794 --> 01:19:00,034
think that is an eloquent way of how we aim.

1138
01:19:01,856 --> 01:19:03,736
To recycle the leaves that our crews pick up every

1139
01:19:03,736 --> 01:19:06,576
year and then redistribute. That to the community. Is there

1140
01:19:06,576 --> 01:19:11,760
a climate impact metric? I'm not currently aware of us

1141
01:19:11,760 --> 01:19:16,000
having completed that level of analysis on the program, okay?

1142
01:19:16,000 --> 01:19:23,676
That's it. Thanks. Anybody else on one, Councilor Coleman. This

1143
01:19:23,676 --> 01:19:25,676
is the trauma that we face when we go through

1144
01:19:25,676 --> 01:19:30,703
this exercise. None of these are fun. They're all wanted.

1145
01:19:32,318 --> 01:19:35,438
This particular program it recognized. We've just put two and

1146
01:19:35,438 --> 01:19:38,318
a half million dollars back into the budget. So if

1147
01:19:38,318 --> 01:19:41,278
we don't make some of the adjustments here, it's going

1148
01:19:41,278 --> 01:19:43,718
to be really painful when we get to section B,

1149
01:19:43,718 --> 01:19:44,918
because you're going to have to take all that money

1150
01:19:44,918 --> 01:19:49,078
back out and more so understand that here is a

1151
01:19:49,078 --> 01:19:54,832
program we're not killing. We're narrowing it back because everybody's

1152
01:19:54,832 --> 01:19:57,272
having to tighten their belts. If you want. You don't

1153
01:19:57,272 --> 01:20:02,006
want to means test this program, but you can. Adjust

1154
01:20:02,006 --> 01:20:04,366
it so it's not open to the public more broadly,

1155
01:20:04,366 --> 01:20:07,894
but it goes through our community gardens. And that may

1156
01:20:07,894 --> 01:20:10,814
be a way of addressing that in a very targeted

1157
01:20:10,814 --> 01:20:13,715
way. I don't want to make the cuts. But we're

1158
01:20:13,715 --> 01:20:16,235
forced to make cuts, folks. This one I don't think

1159
01:20:16,235 --> 01:20:22,028
should be. I think it should stay. In the staff

1160
01:20:22,028 --> 01:20:24,900
have done the. First tough, difficult cuts. This was one

1161
01:20:24,900 --> 01:20:31,192
they suggest. Could allow the program to still exist. At

1162
01:20:31,192 --> 01:20:34,032
a narrowed capacity, so I support the staff on this

1163
01:20:34,032 --> 01:20:39,001
one. Thank you, Councilor Gardner. The proposed cut does not

1164
01:20:39,001 --> 01:20:43,527
affect the seedlings or the mulch program. So that's a

1165
01:20:43,527 --> 01:20:46,889
side topic. It's not being discussed here or being uncut

1166
01:20:46,889 --> 01:20:50,609
at all, but since it's been discussed in a way.

1167
01:20:50,609 --> 01:20:52,689
I certainly like to hear the total cost of what

1168
01:20:52,689 --> 01:20:55,809
it costs the city to create 93,000 seedlings. Thank you.

1169
01:20:55,809 --> 01:20:58,169
Mr. Dimon, do you happen to know that off the

1170
01:20:58,169 --> 01:21:00,729
top of your head. And can you confirm that the

1171
01:21:00,729 --> 01:21:03,129
cuts that we're considering do not have an impact on

1172
01:21:03,129 --> 01:21:06,397
the seedling program. Thanks. And through your mayor. I do

1173
01:21:06,397 --> 01:21:09,077
not have the seedling number at my fingertips, but I

1174
01:21:09,077 --> 01:21:12,437
can check in with my team and provide that when

1175
01:21:12,437 --> 01:21:16,179
I do get that information. And to the second question.

1176
01:21:17,496 --> 01:21:21,457
Councilor Gardner is correct. The proposed cuts will not have

1177
01:21:21,457 --> 01:21:25,257
an impact to the city's propagation of those seedlings. That

1178
01:21:25,257 --> 01:21:28,297
will still be provided, as well as the mulch that's

1179
01:21:28,297 --> 01:21:32,046
available to the community. It's just the grant that supports

1180
01:21:32,046 --> 01:21:36,564
the distribution and how we get. Those seedlings into the

1181
01:21:36,564 --> 01:21:40,721
hands of. The not for profit that then work with

1182
01:21:40,721 --> 01:21:45,880
that grap funding to distribute them to the community. If

1183
01:21:45,880 --> 01:21:49,440
this proposed cut was to move ahead, we would rely

1184
01:21:49,440 --> 01:21:52,680
on residents to come to our facility. To pick them

1185
01:21:52,680 --> 01:21:57,515
up. Right. Thank you for that. Anybody else on one.

1186
01:21:59,022 --> 01:22:01,862
So just to be clear, what we're voting on here

1187
01:22:01,862 --> 01:22:06,145
is whether or not. To return this item to the

1188
01:22:06,145 --> 01:22:10,557
budget or to leave it out of the budget. And

1189
01:22:10,557 --> 01:22:12,517
so the way this is phrased is that council directs

1190
01:22:12,517 --> 01:22:16,077
staff to essentially returned to the 2026 draft financial plan.

1191
01:22:17,719 --> 01:22:20,547
The growing in the city grants. If you would like

1192
01:22:20,547 --> 01:22:24,707
those grants to be returned and included in the budget,

1193
01:22:24,707 --> 01:22:28,947
then you vote yes. If you would like staff's recommendation

1194
01:22:28,947 --> 01:22:31,227
to remove them from the budget, then you vote no.

1195
01:22:32,752 --> 01:22:38,966
Clear. Okay. All those in favor of returning these grants

1196
01:22:38,966 --> 01:22:44,128
to the budget? Councilor Thompson, councilor Kim, councilor Caradona, councilor

1197
01:22:44,128 --> 01:22:49,819
Dell, councilor. Sorry, I didn't see you there. In opposition.

1198
01:22:54,321 --> 01:22:58,761
councilor hammond myself councilor coleman and councilor gardner so in

1199
01:22:58,761 --> 01:23:02,241
fact that motion is approved and so number one the

1200
01:23:02,241 --> 01:23:06,801
growing in the city grants are returned to the 2026

1201
01:23:06,801 --> 01:23:08,748
budget All right. Yeah. Holding the math there, Ms. Thompson,

1202
01:23:08,748 --> 01:23:10,628
because once we go through these, we'll. Probably ask you

1203
01:23:10,628 --> 01:23:12,948
for a sort of a running update. I will point

1204
01:23:12,948 --> 01:23:16,628
out that Dubois, not everyone. Has spoken on that item,

1205
01:23:16,628 --> 01:23:21,327
five people did speak and in total used. Up eleven

1206
01:23:21,327 --> 01:23:26,510
minutes. I will remind you that, generous though I am,

1207
01:23:26,510 --> 01:23:29,950
we will cap this section at twelve minutes per. Person.

1208
01:23:29,950 --> 01:23:33,510
So pick and choose what you'd like to comment on.

1209
01:23:33,510 --> 01:23:35,790
So the next proposal is. With regard to the pro

1210
01:23:35,790 --> 01:23:38,590
art alliance. And that is again, to return. And I

1211
01:23:38,590 --> 01:23:41,110
wonder, sorry, before. I say, Ms. Roder, is there a

1212
01:23:41,110 --> 01:23:42,670
way for you to put a check mark or something?

1213
01:23:43,369 --> 01:23:45,769
After each one as we determine whether they're returned or

1214
01:23:45,769 --> 01:23:49,129
not. So if it's returned. You could put a yes

1215
01:23:49,129 --> 01:23:51,769
or something. Or a y or something like that. I

1216
01:23:51,769 --> 01:23:53,489
suspect that. When we get if should we get to

1217
01:23:53,489 --> 01:23:55,249
one where we're not going to return, we can just

1218
01:23:55,249 --> 01:23:57,609
delete it. But for now, just to give us an

1219
01:23:57,609 --> 01:23:59,809
update on where we're going. Thank you for that. So,

1220
01:23:59,809 --> 01:24:02,129
pro Art alliance, the proposal is to return this to.

1221
01:24:03,267 --> 01:24:05,907
The 2026 budget. And I think this was Councilor Thompson.

1222
01:24:05,907 --> 01:24:11,398
Councilor Thompson, speak to this. Please. Thanks, mayor. Yeah. It's

1223
01:24:11,398 --> 01:24:15,638
a great alliance that awards, provides awards that really encourage

1224
01:24:15,638 --> 01:24:21,275
artists and organizations involved in the arts. And encourages them

1225
01:24:21,275 --> 01:24:24,555
to stay active in the arts. It boosts the voice

1226
01:24:24,555 --> 01:24:29,967
of artists. It's been advocating for the regionalization of art

1227
01:24:29,967 --> 01:24:33,648
services, which we're heading towards. Over at the Crd. Thanks

1228
01:24:33,648 --> 01:24:37,288
in part to their advocacy. It is a tiny budget.

1229
01:24:37,288 --> 01:24:41,307
I have a question for staff and that is. Of

1230
01:24:41,307 --> 01:24:47,115
that $8,000 proposal there. What percentage of the residential tax

1231
01:24:47,115 --> 01:24:50,075
increase would that be like? What? I guess maybe fraction

1232
01:24:50,075 --> 01:24:54,625
of 1%. Would it be? Ms. Thompson, could you answer

1233
01:24:54,625 --> 01:24:57,865
that clearly for the public? And I think two questions.

1234
01:24:57,865 --> 01:25:00,025
Is this the whole program. Is there anything left? Does

1235
01:25:00,025 --> 01:25:08,910
this kill the program? No. Through you, mayor. Kerry Moore,

1236
01:25:08,910 --> 01:25:12,663
director of business and community relations. The Pro Art alliance.

1237
01:25:12,663 --> 01:25:17,063
We retained 2000 in the budget for the awards. The

1238
01:25:17,063 --> 01:25:20,884
rest of the eight that you're looking at. Is actually

1239
01:25:20,884 --> 01:25:24,244
administration operational fees that are provided to them. Very good.

1240
01:25:24,244 --> 01:25:27,343
Thank you for that, clarification. So the awards remain, but

1241
01:25:27,343 --> 01:25:30,263
everything else goes. And, Ms. Thompson, the impact of this

1242
01:25:30,263 --> 01:25:33,173
on the budget? Your mic is not on. Yes. There

1243
01:25:33,173 --> 01:25:40,637
you go. Through the mayor. So this is like. Thank

1244
01:25:40,637 --> 01:25:44,357
you for that. It's very clear. Four or five zeros.

1245
01:25:44,357 --> 01:25:52,569
Councilor caradona. Sorry. Custom. Are you done? Yeah. One more

1246
01:25:52,569 --> 01:25:55,209
sentence. Thanks for that number. I hope I got the

1247
01:25:55,209 --> 01:25:58,993
right number of zeros when I wrote it down. Yeah.

1248
01:25:58,993 --> 01:26:02,513
The recommendation was that the CRD Art service be approached

1249
01:26:02,513 --> 01:26:06,033
for support, and I think that if we do that.

1250
01:26:08,424 --> 01:26:11,344
Maybe next year we get to reduce this. Let's see

1251
01:26:11,344 --> 01:26:14,478
what happens over at the CRD. Yeah. I want to

1252
01:26:14,478 --> 01:26:16,678
speak in favor of this one for a minute, because

1253
01:26:16,678 --> 01:26:20,878
I get that this 8000 goes towards essentially operational capacity

1254
01:26:20,878 --> 01:26:25,059
for them. But unless you were really in the weeds

1255
01:26:25,059 --> 01:26:29,019
at the CRD on the regional performing arts facility, service

1256
01:26:29,019 --> 01:26:31,339
that we're in the middle of. The pro Art alliance

1257
01:26:31,339 --> 01:26:34,499
played an incredibly important role. In that advocacy. And in

1258
01:26:34,499 --> 01:26:37,939
fact, I would say that the regionalization of performing arts

1259
01:26:37,939 --> 01:26:40,379
facilities probably would not be going ahead if it had

1260
01:26:40,379 --> 01:26:43,634
not been for their advocacy. This. Is the opera, the

1261
01:26:43,634 --> 01:26:46,594
symphony, dance, Victoria. All the major performance arts groups are

1262
01:26:46,594 --> 01:26:49,154
part of this. They lobbied really hard at the CRD

1263
01:26:49,154 --> 01:26:51,714
to push the west shore and sandwich and others to

1264
01:26:51,714 --> 01:26:55,566
support this. The AAP still has to pass. The bylaws

1265
01:26:55,566 --> 01:26:58,349
have to be signed. But if that happens. We will

1266
01:26:58,349 --> 01:27:01,949
formally transfer the Mac to the CRD, which will save

1267
01:27:01,949 --> 01:27:06,579
us through the mayor to staff. 400 and something. Thousand

1268
01:27:06,579 --> 01:27:10,597
dollars a year, Ms. Thompson? Through the mayor. So this

1269
01:27:10,597 --> 01:27:12,877
is not a program that runs through the city, however.

1270
01:27:14,674 --> 01:27:17,074
The city of Detour taxpayers pay, but through the CRD

1271
01:27:17,074 --> 01:27:21,864
lobby. So it's actually a CRD. Allocation. But the allocation

1272
01:27:21,864 --> 01:27:26,824
for City of Victoria residents or taxpayers, I should say,

1273
01:27:26,824 --> 01:27:31,104
is a reduction of approximately $400,000. Thanks for that clarification.

1274
01:27:31,104 --> 01:27:34,024
Still, I mean, huge savings to the city. So their

1275
01:27:34,024 --> 01:27:36,784
advocacy is really effective. And given how small this is,

1276
01:27:36,784 --> 01:27:39,624
I've had my calculator out all week in any budget

1277
01:27:39,624 --> 01:27:40,992
scenar. Scenario I come up with trying to get us

1278
01:27:40,992 --> 01:27:45,106
down to single digits. This 8000 doesn't. Even register. On

1279
01:27:45,106 --> 01:27:47,866
my calculator, so I'm okay with keeping this one. Thank

1280
01:27:47,866 --> 01:27:52,234
you. Anybody else? Sure. I'll probably just oppose cuts of

1281
01:27:52,234 --> 01:27:54,794
$8,000 just on principal so much, but. I just want

1282
01:27:54,794 --> 01:27:57,274
to recognize that on November 26 this year, the Pro

1283
01:27:57,274 --> 01:28:00,394
Arts alliance is having their award ceremony at the Bauman

1284
01:28:00,394 --> 01:28:02,794
center. I've gone to the past here. They bring out

1285
01:28:02,794 --> 01:28:05,394
all the different arts groups. And so the funding does

1286
01:28:05,394 --> 01:28:07,274
go to award, but it also goes to their meetings

1287
01:28:07,274 --> 01:28:08,954
where they bring everyone together. I don't know. They might

1288
01:28:08,954 --> 01:28:11,795
buy pizzas or. Paid to rent a room. For something,

1289
01:28:11,795 --> 01:28:14,035
but this is the kind of stuff that won't make

1290
01:28:14,035 --> 01:28:16,235
any single difference in our budget, but I think really

1291
01:28:16,235 --> 01:28:18,195
takes away from the livability of the city. Maybe it's

1292
01:28:18,195 --> 01:28:20,155
a little bit for the arts people, but this does

1293
01:28:20,155 --> 01:28:23,155
bring people together for community and for supporting our arts

1294
01:28:23,155 --> 01:28:25,115
program, and that goes on to have a meaningful difference,

1295
01:28:25,115 --> 01:28:27,715
so I'm happy. To look at areas of bigger cuts,

1296
01:28:27,715 --> 01:28:30,195
but I think $8,000 on this one and the youth

1297
01:28:30,195 --> 01:28:32,452
port and others are that. Small are absolutely not worth

1298
01:28:32,452 --> 01:28:35,092
it. So this is worth keeping, and I encourage folks

1299
01:28:35,092 --> 01:28:38,172
to come out. On Wednesday, November 22 at 06:00 for

1300
01:28:38,172 --> 01:28:42,374
their awards. Thank you very much. Anybody else on this

1301
01:28:42,374 --> 01:28:46,217
one? All right, so once again, if you would like

1302
01:28:46,217 --> 01:28:49,217
to have this $8,000 returned to the budget. You will

1303
01:28:49,217 --> 01:28:51,537
vote in favor if you would like it to be

1304
01:28:51,537 --> 01:28:54,297
removed from the budget. You will vote in opposition. All

1305
01:28:54,297 --> 01:28:58,637
those in favor of returning this to the budget? Council

1306
01:28:58,637 --> 01:29:01,837
Thompson, councilor Kim, myself, councilor Gardona, councilor Coleman and councilor

1307
01:29:01,837 --> 01:29:07,584
Dell. In opposition, Councilor Hammond and Councilor Gardner, so that

1308
01:29:07,584 --> 01:29:11,537
one is approved. With two in opposition. Noted. And so

1309
01:29:11,537 --> 01:29:13,777
that is also carried. Yes. Thank you so much for

1310
01:29:13,777 --> 01:29:16,977
that. Ms. rotor. So moving on then, to the, actually,

1311
01:29:16,977 --> 01:29:18,777
let me just take a pause. We have been sitting

1312
01:29:18,777 --> 01:29:21,137
down for an hour and a half. It is accustomed

1313
01:29:21,137 --> 01:29:23,337
to stand up for a few minutes. Every hour and

1314
01:29:23,337 --> 01:29:25,577
a half or so, despite the fact that we don't

1315
01:29:25,577 --> 01:29:27,657
have a very long afternoon. I suspect we're going to

1316
01:29:27,657 --> 01:29:31,538
go right till 04:00 does anyone wish five. Minutes. Yes,

1317
01:29:31,538 --> 01:29:34,298
five minutes. We will start again at 36.

1318
01:30:31,369 --> 01:30:34,369
That being said, we have every opportunity to adjust our

1319
01:30:34,369 --> 01:30:36,929
opinions, and so we're now up. To number three, and

1320
01:30:36,929 --> 01:30:40,420
I believe. There are several people who indicated that they

1321
01:30:40,420 --> 01:30:42,140
were going to propose this one, but I can't. Remember

1322
01:30:42,140 --> 01:30:45,353
who moved it in the end. So Dave did. Dave,

1323
01:30:45,353 --> 01:30:48,273
did you do the bus test? Yes, Councilor Thompson. Why

1324
01:30:48,273 --> 01:30:51,153
don't. You motivate if you like or not. Thank you.

1325
01:30:51,153 --> 01:30:53,273
Number three, the youth bus program. Thank you. I will,

1326
01:30:53,273 --> 01:30:56,673
briefly. Mayor yeah, it's been a really successful program. It's

1327
01:30:56,673 --> 01:31:00,713
building the next generation of transit users. My teenagers have

1328
01:31:00,713 --> 01:31:03,993
used it for years and they're comfortable. Navigating the bus

1329
01:31:03,993 --> 01:31:08,912
system. Also reduces transportation costs for families, especially families with

1330
01:31:08,912 --> 01:31:12,992
more than one kid. It helps kids get to school

1331
01:31:12,992 --> 01:31:18,969
to after school activities. to work if they're older kids

1332
01:31:18,999 --> 01:31:27,614
Reduces car dependency. Emissions, traffic congestion. It supports our work

1333
01:31:27,614 --> 01:31:33,088
in the OCP with our transit oriented areas. Reduces the

1334
01:31:33,088 --> 01:31:37,448
crush of cars that takes place every day at schools

1335
01:31:37,448 --> 01:31:42,141
in the morning and in the afternoon. And the safety

1336
01:31:42,141 --> 01:31:44,541
problems that those cause, actually, which have been pointed out

1337
01:31:44,541 --> 01:31:47,661
by a lot of residents. I'd like to thank the

1338
01:31:47,661 --> 01:31:50,181
previous council for creating the program. I wish I could

1339
01:31:50,181 --> 01:31:53,483
say that we created it. Staff pointed out that this

1340
01:31:53,483 --> 01:31:57,803
might be ideal for pursuing CRD funding, and I agree.

1341
01:31:57,803 --> 01:32:02,338
And councilor caradona. Moved a motion at the CRD, and

1342
01:32:02,338 --> 01:32:05,018
I was happy to second it for the CRD. To

1343
01:32:05,018 --> 01:32:08,698
look into this that was well received by other CRD

1344
01:32:08,698 --> 01:32:13,258
representatives from other municipalities and actually they were very grateful

1345
01:32:13,258 --> 01:32:15,978
for it, for us to have moved that, and they're

1346
01:32:15,978 --> 01:32:19,652
very envious of the program. So I think this is

1347
01:32:19,652 --> 01:32:24,156
an important piece. Of our transportation work and our climate

1348
01:32:24,156 --> 01:32:26,476
change work, and I'd love to see it stay. Thank

1349
01:32:26,476 --> 01:32:29,276
you. Anybody else? Councilor? Carried on? Yeah, just a few

1350
01:32:29,276 --> 01:32:31,236
brief words. Add to that of. All the things on

1351
01:32:31,236 --> 01:32:33,756
this list. This is a thing I least want to

1352
01:32:33,756 --> 01:32:37,196
cut because I know what an incredible impact it has

1353
01:32:37,196 --> 01:32:39,716
on the youth of this city. And I won't repeat.

1354
01:32:39,716 --> 01:32:41,676
What councilor Thompson said, but I will note over at

1355
01:32:41,676 --> 01:32:46,810
the cr. Crd that. That motion passed and. It will

1356
01:32:46,810 --> 01:32:50,570
then become part of the transportation planning process over the

1357
01:32:50,570 --> 01:32:53,850
next year at the CRD and then it would likely

1358
01:32:53,850 --> 01:32:57,250
be voted upon in 2027, so it's too late for.

1359
01:32:57,250 --> 01:33:00,370
Budget 2026. I feel confident. I mean, obviously it's going

1360
01:33:00,370 --> 01:33:02,610
to depend on who's. Around the table next year at

1361
01:33:02,610 --> 01:33:07,193
the CRD. Anyway, staff suggested this become a CRD thing,

1362
01:33:07,193 --> 01:33:08,953
so I took their advice. We're pushing it forward, but

1363
01:33:08,953 --> 01:33:10,593
we need a little bit of time on it. I

1364
01:33:10,593 --> 01:33:12,833
think it would be just. Hugely irresponsible to cut it

1365
01:33:12,833 --> 01:33:16,673
this year in the absence of that confirmation from the

1366
01:33:16,673 --> 01:33:20,497
CRD. Thanks. Anyone else on this one? Councilor Dell. Councilor

1367
01:33:20,497 --> 01:33:22,777
card. Just an anecdotal story. When I was running for

1368
01:33:22,777 --> 01:33:25,777
election 2022. I try to summarize the last term, 2018

1369
01:33:25,777 --> 01:33:28,057
to 2022, and there's a lot to be said about

1370
01:33:28,057 --> 01:33:30,657
that. But I think the biggest success of that term,

1371
01:33:30,657 --> 01:33:33,257
in my mind, was actually implementing the youth bus program.

1372
01:33:33,257 --> 01:33:36,177
So that's a huge highlight of our last council, and

1373
01:33:36,177 --> 01:33:38,337
I think it would be devastated to stop all the.

1374
01:33:39,048 --> 01:33:41,368
Work that they did on that. So definitely do not

1375
01:33:41,368 --> 01:33:43,088
want to cut this one. And looking forward. To it

1376
01:33:43,088 --> 01:33:46,248
being expanded across the whole CRD. Thank you, Councilor Gardner.

1377
01:33:47,930 --> 01:33:51,530
A comment and a question. The comment was I was

1378
01:33:51,530 --> 01:33:54,370
really quite, I mean, I thought it was almost insulting

1379
01:33:54,370 --> 01:33:59,314
that. The transit sent us a letter supporting it, given

1380
01:33:59,314 --> 01:34:03,870
that maybe transit should be adjusting their program. I just

1381
01:34:03,870 --> 01:34:07,606
found that a bit nervy. That they sent us that

1382
01:34:07,606 --> 01:34:11,566
letter. My question is this, and I know you discussed

1383
01:34:11,566 --> 01:34:15,967
it before. So it should be easy to answer. Who

1384
01:34:15,967 --> 01:34:18,727
is getting the pass now? What I mean is that

1385
01:34:18,727 --> 01:34:23,127
we know that Uvix got their own path, commotion agrees,

1386
01:34:23,127 --> 01:34:26,087
got their own pass and do people who are in

1387
01:34:26,087 --> 01:34:28,047
school in Victoria, but don't live in Victoria. Get the

1388
01:34:28,047 --> 01:34:31,683
pass. So who is eligible for the pass? So, which

1389
01:34:31,683 --> 01:34:35,523
staffer can explain briefly who's eligible? For such a pass,

1390
01:34:35,523 --> 01:34:40,001
Ms. Thompson. Through the mayor. So it is youth who

1391
01:34:40,001 --> 01:34:42,321
reside in the city of Victoria, within the city of

1392
01:34:42,321 --> 01:34:47,553
Victoria boundaries, 18 years and younger. It's free for kids

1393
01:34:47,553 --> 01:34:53,650
twelve and under, so it's from 13 to 18. But

1394
01:34:53,650 --> 01:34:56,210
you have to have an address in the city of

1395
01:34:56,210 --> 01:35:01,281
Victoria. Thank you, and I certainly hope we can get

1396
01:35:01,281 --> 01:35:03,321
this off our books in the next couple of years

1397
01:35:03,321 --> 01:35:07,972
because. It just doesn't make sense to me that VC

1398
01:35:07,972 --> 01:35:11,412
transit is not doing more in this. Regard. Thank you.

1399
01:35:11,412 --> 01:35:13,852
Thank you very much. Anybody else on this one? Councilor

1400
01:35:13,852 --> 01:35:16,292
Kim? Thanks, I'm. Just going to burn more of my

1401
01:35:16,292 --> 01:35:19,172
time with another anecdote here. I grew up in an

1402
01:35:19,172 --> 01:35:23,612
abusive household and having access to public bus fare helped

1403
01:35:23,612 --> 01:35:29,112
me escape that. And so that is an impact. That

1404
01:35:29,112 --> 01:35:31,952
most of us will not consider about the importance of

1405
01:35:31,952 --> 01:35:37,058
this program. It keeps you safe. So I never want

1406
01:35:37,058 --> 01:35:40,098
to see this gone. Okay. Thank you very much. Anybody

1407
01:35:40,098 --> 01:35:43,839
else? Councilor Coleman. I think we dilute ourselves when we

1408
01:35:43,839 --> 01:35:46,399
say that group should pay for order, that group should

1409
01:35:46,399 --> 01:35:50,540
pay for it. If we push it off to the

1410
01:35:50,540 --> 01:35:54,220
CRD, the same taxpayers are paying for it. The reality

1411
01:35:54,220 --> 01:35:58,275
is. This is a critically. Important program. We make sure

1412
01:35:58,275 --> 01:36:01,195
it gets paid for how you distribute it. The problem

1413
01:36:01,195 --> 01:36:04,675
in this region is it's Victoria specific? The reason we

1414
01:36:04,675 --> 01:36:06,195
want to move it to the CRD is to make

1415
01:36:06,195 --> 01:36:08,475
sure that it applies to all kids. Yes. We should

1416
01:36:08,475 --> 01:36:10,555
be supporting this this year. If we move it off

1417
01:36:10,555 --> 01:36:13,275
so it's more universal to all the kids in the

1418
01:36:13,275 --> 01:36:16,962
region. Great, but. Let's not pretend that we're making a

1419
01:36:16,962 --> 01:36:20,322
taxpayer savings on this. It's just something we should invest

1420
01:36:20,322 --> 01:36:28,601
in. Thank you very much, Councilor Hammond. Thanks. Does transit

1421
01:36:28,601 --> 01:36:31,236
do anything? Give out any passes, regardless of age, based

1422
01:36:31,236 --> 01:36:37,558
on income. Yes, they do. Ms. Thompson. I can answer

1423
01:36:37,558 --> 01:36:41,016
that partially, but perhaps. I see transportation staff at the

1424
01:36:41,016 --> 01:36:45,216
back. Are you nodding? Not sure. There are a number

1425
01:36:45,216 --> 01:36:49,256
of programs from BC transit that do provide either reduced

1426
01:36:49,256 --> 01:36:53,870
or no fair passes. Based on income. And they're not

1427
01:36:53,870 --> 01:36:58,030
universally throughout the province, nor are the university throat various

1428
01:36:58,030 --> 01:37:01,310
regions, but there are passes that are available either at

1429
01:37:01,310 --> 01:37:03,990
reduced costs or at no cost. And is that also

1430
01:37:03,990 --> 01:37:09,622
true? For kids 13 to 18 if they've qualified within

1431
01:37:09,622 --> 01:37:12,782
the income of the family. Yes, right. So it could

1432
01:37:12,782 --> 01:37:16,514
be that they're getting a pass. Through us because you

1433
01:37:16,514 --> 01:37:20,712
actually get the passes, right? And therefore not getting the

1434
01:37:20,712 --> 01:37:24,232
passes through some other agency of the government. Yes, but

1435
01:37:24,232 --> 01:37:26,392
at the same time. I would suggest that those numbers

1436
01:37:26,392 --> 01:37:30,676
are very low. I was just saying that. Yeah, you're

1437
01:37:30,676 --> 01:37:33,396
right. You're absolutely right. And certainly there is the potential

1438
01:37:33,396 --> 01:37:36,076
for duplication. But, Ms. Thompson, that you want to weigh

1439
01:37:36,076 --> 01:37:41,596
in there. Through the mayor. Just to clarify, so the

1440
01:37:41,596 --> 01:37:44,276
city does not pay for the number of passes that

1441
01:37:44,276 --> 01:37:48,500
are picked up. The Upath program works in such a

1442
01:37:48,500 --> 01:37:53,780
way that all eligible youth. So the number that could

1443
01:37:53,780 --> 01:37:56,580
pick up the pass is the number that we pay.

1444
01:37:58,402 --> 01:38:03,512
To BC transit, however. We pay 25% of the regular

1445
01:38:03,512 --> 01:38:08,752
fee. So if your uptake. Is more than 25% or

1446
01:38:08,752 --> 01:38:12,072
more, you're breaking even. If you were to pay for

1447
01:38:12,072 --> 01:38:15,730
a per pass. Type of situation. So here in Victoria,

1448
01:38:15,730 --> 01:38:18,170
I don't have the current numbers with me. Can probably

1449
01:38:18,170 --> 01:38:20,650
get them for staff, and they're probably listening and frantically

1450
01:38:20,650 --> 01:38:24,880
looking. Is we have a much higher uptake than that

1451
01:38:24,880 --> 01:38:32,518
25%, so the city actually pays less. Per. Pass. Than

1452
01:38:32,518 --> 01:38:35,278
we would if we paid. Again, based on the number

1453
01:38:35,278 --> 01:38:37,358
of youth who actually came and picked it up. So

1454
01:38:37,358 --> 01:38:39,438
there may be duplication, as in they come and pick

1455
01:38:39,438 --> 01:38:41,998
it, pick it up. Here. But we don't pay anymore

1456
01:38:41,998 --> 01:38:45,358
because somebody did. That's good. Can I ask? Is there

1457
01:38:45,358 --> 01:38:49,558
any stats which show that there's more 13 to 18

1458
01:38:49,558 --> 01:38:52,786
year olds who take the transit, the buses, because. Of

1459
01:38:52,786 --> 01:38:56,624
this. Thompson. Do we know that? Through the mayor. So

1460
01:38:56,624 --> 01:39:01,863
we have vast transit for usage data. They've had not

1461
01:39:01,863 --> 01:39:04,423
great information in the past, but I do know that.

1462
01:39:06,057 --> 01:39:09,832
They have. With the yumopath, they might be able to

1463
01:39:09,832 --> 01:39:15,104
provide better information. But for now, I don't have that

1464
01:39:15,104 --> 01:39:20,504
information handy, and I just have my variable staff downstairs

1465
01:39:20,504 --> 01:39:25,717
telling me that our uptake. This year was actually 77%

1466
01:39:25,717 --> 01:39:30,629
of eligible youth. That's very impressive. If you're saying there's

1467
01:39:30,629 --> 01:39:33,825
no stats. On how many kids use it. I trust

1468
01:39:33,825 --> 01:39:36,665
there's no stats on how many kids are riding the

1469
01:39:36,665 --> 01:39:41,025
buses, who would otherwise be walking or riding their bikes.

1470
01:39:42,392 --> 01:39:45,072
Through the mayor. I'm not sure how, if a transit

1471
01:39:45,072 --> 01:39:47,232
would track it that way and they certainly are the

1472
01:39:47,232 --> 01:39:49,752
ones who are collecting the data. Okay, thanks very much,

1473
01:39:49,752 --> 01:39:55,219
mayor. Thank you very much, councilor Logan. Thanks to you,

1474
01:39:55,219 --> 01:39:58,452
Mary. I just want to add that. It does. Of

1475
01:39:58,452 --> 01:40:02,532
course, transit decreases emissions, so it's the climate action aspect

1476
01:40:02,532 --> 01:40:06,092
of this, and. It also trains riders to use more

1477
01:40:06,092 --> 01:40:09,012
sustainable ways of getting around, so it helps us with.

1478
01:40:11,129 --> 01:40:14,369
Our active transportation goals, so just wanted to add that

1479
01:40:14,369 --> 01:40:18,366
point. Thank you very much for that. Anybody else on

1480
01:40:18,366 --> 01:40:23,589
this one? I'm not seeing anyone else. I am going

1481
01:40:23,589 --> 01:40:26,069
to support this being returned to the financial plan for

1482
01:40:26,069 --> 01:40:27,669
many of the reasons that were stated, which I won't

1483
01:40:27,669 --> 01:40:31,029
repeat, but I do want to emphasize the fact that

1484
01:40:31,029 --> 01:40:33,429
I think the benefit to this is far beyond the

1485
01:40:33,429 --> 01:40:37,829
city, and I am very anxious to continue to press,

1486
01:40:37,829 --> 01:40:41,469
the capital regional district and the BC transit to consider

1487
01:40:41,469 --> 01:40:44,380
expanding this program beyond the city of Victor. Victoria yes,

1488
01:40:44,380 --> 01:40:47,020
we have a great program here that clearly has remarkable

1489
01:40:47,020 --> 01:40:51,380
uptake 77%. But at the same time, it is something

1490
01:40:51,380 --> 01:40:54,580
that should be offered beyond the city of Victoria, and

1491
01:40:54,580 --> 01:40:57,940
it certainly should be contributed to, if not paid for,

1492
01:40:57,940 --> 01:41:01,020
by more than just the residents of the city. Victoria

1493
01:41:01,020 --> 01:41:04,128
so. Yes, there'll be taxation for everyone. If this is

1494
01:41:04,128 --> 01:41:07,368
expended, but ultimately the program requires an expansion to make

1495
01:41:07,368 --> 01:41:10,088
it even more beneficial to folks who are benefiting from

1496
01:41:10,088 --> 01:41:13,236
it now. With that said reminder, then, if you wish

1497
01:41:13,236 --> 01:41:17,036
this to be returned to the financial plan for 2026,

1498
01:41:17,036 --> 01:41:19,316
vote in favor if you wish it to be cut

1499
01:41:19,316 --> 01:41:22,436
from the 2026 vote in opposition. All those in favor

1500
01:41:22,436 --> 01:41:28,450
of number three? Has anyone opposed? No. That is unanimous.

1501
01:41:28,450 --> 01:41:32,050
So, unanimously. Number three, the youth bus pass program is

1502
01:41:32,050 --> 01:41:36,593
returned. To the 2026 financial plan. Moving on then, to

1503
01:41:36,593 --> 01:41:41,113
the my great neighborhood grants program. This is $152,000 value.

1504
01:41:43,318 --> 01:41:46,398
To be added back in or removed, depending upon the

1505
01:41:46,398 --> 01:41:49,518
vote of council. I forget who took this. Back on.

1506
01:41:51,170 --> 01:41:52,610
It was you. Okay. Councilor Kim, do you wish to

1507
01:41:52,610 --> 01:41:56,287
speak to it? I'll be brief. This is another example.

1508
01:41:58,814 --> 01:42:02,134
Of grants having an outsized impact in very local ways.

1509
01:42:03,731 --> 01:42:05,651
And so it's actually hard for me to motivate about

1510
01:42:05,651 --> 01:42:10,154
this in an eloquent way because. There's so many personal

1511
01:42:10,154 --> 01:42:15,680
stories about how this grant has benefited neighborhoods and. I

1512
01:42:15,680 --> 01:42:17,880
just can't summarize or collect them all. An example is.

1513
01:42:19,240 --> 01:42:21,680
There's a family in Oakland that applied for a great

1514
01:42:21,680 --> 01:42:24,840
neighborhood grant and hosted a neighborhood dinner after they all

1515
01:42:24,840 --> 01:42:29,416
went crabbing together, and it included. Immigrant workers who are

1516
01:42:29,416 --> 01:42:34,027
renting nearby and their kiddos and. It's just that real

1517
01:42:34,027 --> 01:42:40,172
community building, and in the face of. Intensive precarity. It's

1518
01:42:40,172 --> 01:42:44,172
no secret that mutual aid and community networks are what

1519
01:42:44,172 --> 01:42:47,732
keeps people safe. The first responder in the case of

1520
01:42:47,732 --> 01:42:50,012
something like a heat dome, is not a first responder.

1521
01:42:50,012 --> 01:42:54,361
It's your neighbor. And it's things like this that help,

1522
01:42:54,361 --> 01:42:58,161
you know, your neighbor and build that connection that ultimately

1523
01:42:58,161 --> 01:43:00,201
keeps people safe. So, I mean, if you needed a

1524
01:43:00,201 --> 01:43:03,321
climate reason for this, there's one. Okay, thank you very

1525
01:43:03,321 --> 01:43:06,761
much. Anybody else? What's your donut? I think, mayor, this

1526
01:43:06,761 --> 01:43:08,401
one's a tough one for me. Just because on my

1527
01:43:08,401 --> 01:43:10,961
own personal list of things to cut to try to

1528
01:43:10,961 --> 01:43:13,895
get us down to. Single digits. I did have a

1529
01:43:13,895 --> 01:43:17,135
scaling back on this one a bit. I understand absolutely

1530
01:43:17,135 --> 01:43:19,175
the value of this program. And in fact, before being

1531
01:43:19,175 --> 01:43:21,375
an elected official, I applied for and actually received my

1532
01:43:21,375 --> 01:43:23,575
great neighbor, a grant, and I know how important they

1533
01:43:23,575 --> 01:43:26,095
are to people. But I did have a chat with

1534
01:43:26,095 --> 01:43:29,295
staff about how this program has been toggled up and

1535
01:43:29,295 --> 01:43:31,855
down over the years. I just want to confirm what

1536
01:43:31,855 --> 01:43:36,298
the allocation was back. In 2022. Thompson. Do you know

1537
01:43:36,298 --> 01:43:43,523
that? Or is that another staff person? I'm curious. 2022.

1538
01:43:43,523 --> 01:43:46,876
Why that particular just before. We at the end of

1539
01:43:46,876 --> 01:43:51,371
the last mandate? Because we have expanded the allocation for

1540
01:43:51,371 --> 01:43:54,051
this one a bit. Do you have that, Ms. Dawson?

1541
01:43:54,051 --> 01:43:58,443
Magically. Through the mayor so I can start at the

1542
01:43:58,443 --> 01:44:04,351
beginning. In 2018, it was set up at $125,000. And

1543
01:44:04,351 --> 01:44:08,111
it has been increased by inflation since that time. And

1544
01:44:08,111 --> 01:44:13,831
so in 2022, it was $136,000 was the budget. However,

1545
01:44:13,831 --> 01:44:19,391
the allocation that year was $108,000. 108. Okay. I'm going

1546
01:44:19,391 --> 01:44:22,671
to try an amendment and see if it carries, but.

1547
01:44:24,005 --> 01:44:27,050
I'd like to reduce this one. My brain is having

1548
01:44:27,050 --> 01:44:31,455
a hard time because it's a reduction. Not. So I

1549
01:44:31,455 --> 01:44:32,975
guess it should read if we want to bring it

1550
01:44:32,975 --> 01:44:35,655
down to 100,000, so. I guess it would read 52,000

1551
01:44:35,655 --> 01:44:37,775
and then 100,000. Is that correct, or I have that

1552
01:44:37,775 --> 01:44:44,019
backwards, Ms. Thompson, is that correct? Through the mayor. So

1553
01:44:44,019 --> 01:44:45,819
we are talking about the number that you would like

1554
01:44:45,819 --> 01:44:48,459
it to be because we're adding it back in. So

1555
01:44:48,459 --> 01:44:50,619
the number, if you would like $100,000. To be the

1556
01:44:50,619 --> 01:44:54,566
grant amount. Then this number should say $100,000. For some

1557
01:44:54,566 --> 01:44:56,486
reason, my brain can't help. If we want this grant

1558
01:44:56,486 --> 01:45:00,926
to be at $100,000. This number is 100,000. Okay, so

1559
01:45:00,926 --> 01:45:04,343
then 100,000 goes back in. So yes, there is an

1560
01:45:04,343 --> 01:45:07,223
amendment, properly put, that this be 100 as opposed to

1561
01:45:07,223 --> 01:45:10,823
152. Remember, we're deciding whether or not to return this

1562
01:45:10,823 --> 01:45:13,023
amount of money to the financial plan is there? A

1563
01:45:13,023 --> 01:45:17,365
secondary for that amendment. Yes? Councilor Gardner is seconding. Go

1564
01:45:17,365 --> 01:45:19,885
ahead. Councilor Caradona, if you'd like to motivate. I think

1565
01:45:19,885 --> 01:45:22,765
that there is opportunities across our budget to scale back

1566
01:45:22,765 --> 01:45:25,525
a bit, but not kill some of these really important

1567
01:45:25,525 --> 01:45:28,085
grants. I think that this one, it has been very

1568
01:45:28,085 --> 01:45:30,125
well subscribed in the last few years, but I think

1569
01:45:30,125 --> 01:45:32,525
at $100,000. It can still do a lot of really

1570
01:45:32,525 --> 01:45:36,140
good value in the community, and I do. Think there's

1571
01:45:36,140 --> 01:45:39,660
just opportunities to toggle some of these grants up and

1572
01:45:39,660 --> 01:45:42,260
down over the years. So this one wouldn't disappear as

1573
01:45:42,260 --> 01:45:45,020
proposed by staff, but it would remain, albeit in a

1574
01:45:45,020 --> 01:45:47,900
bit scaled back form. Thank you. Councilor Gardner, is the

1575
01:45:47,900 --> 01:45:51,820
secondary of the amendment. Thank you. I believe it's very

1576
01:45:51,820 --> 01:45:53,580
valuable, Grant. At the same time, I don't know about

1577
01:45:53,580 --> 01:45:56,448
the distribution, so I would certainly. Like to see down

1578
01:45:56,448 --> 01:45:59,048
the road before next year when we're going to be

1579
01:45:59,048 --> 01:46:01,648
into this. Exercise again. Well, we don't know who's going

1580
01:46:01,648 --> 01:46:04,440
to be here. But there'd be some ideas to the

1581
01:46:04,440 --> 01:46:07,920
distribution of the grounds throughout the city. Distribution by population.

1582
01:46:07,920 --> 01:46:10,760
Thank you very much, Ms. Thompson. Just before I go

1583
01:46:10,760 --> 01:46:15,654
to councilor Thompson, Is this amount. All that's left in

1584
01:46:15,654 --> 01:46:19,297
the program is that the whole program? Or 152, as

1585
01:46:19,297 --> 01:46:24,057
it was, through the mayor. Yes, that's correct. Councilor Thompson,

1586
01:46:24,057 --> 01:46:29,410
thanks. Could you just recap the uptake of it? I

1587
01:46:29,410 --> 01:46:31,970
think there's been certain amounts available, but maybe less has

1588
01:46:31,970 --> 01:46:33,610
been applied for. What are the numbers for the last

1589
01:46:33,610 --> 01:46:38,185
few years? Ms. Morris. That something you would know? Yes.

1590
01:46:38,185 --> 01:46:43,769
Through you, mayor. The current year. We have 45 applications

1591
01:46:43,769 --> 01:46:50,096
currently. 138,000 in funds distributed. Over the course of the

1592
01:46:50,096 --> 01:46:53,136
years that grant has been available, including this year's grants,

1593
01:46:53,136 --> 01:46:56,456
we would have given out 412 grants, and every neighborhood

1594
01:46:56,456 --> 01:47:02,255
has benefited. Did you want some further information? I think

1595
01:47:02,255 --> 01:47:05,891
what I heard councilor Thompson request. Is in each year,

1596
01:47:05,891 --> 01:47:09,780
or even an example year. What's the percentage of uptake?

1597
01:47:09,780 --> 01:47:13,460
So if it was $100,000, for example, would you expect

1598
01:47:13,460 --> 01:47:15,940
that all 100,000 would be expended or would it be

1599
01:47:15,940 --> 01:47:19,993
80? Or based on past practice. Through the mayor. I

1600
01:47:19,993 --> 01:47:24,359
don't have percentages, but I can say that. These past

1601
01:47:24,359 --> 01:47:27,959
few years, we have gotten close to utilizing all of

1602
01:47:27,959 --> 01:47:31,551
the funds. The year in 2022 was a pandemic year,

1603
01:47:31,551 --> 01:47:37,339
which is why you saw that decline. In applications. Thank

1604
01:47:37,339 --> 01:47:43,513
you. We tend to use all the monies. Okay. No

1605
01:47:43,513 --> 01:47:47,425
more questions, but I will just comment. That I've been

1606
01:47:47,425 --> 01:47:49,745
involved or my neighborhood has been involved in several of

1607
01:47:49,745 --> 01:47:53,305
the applications and I've seen it work on building community,

1608
01:47:53,305 --> 01:47:58,065
like literally having people outdoors working together on planters. And

1609
01:47:58,065 --> 01:48:01,299
that sort of thing. And long before the last election,

1610
01:48:01,299 --> 01:48:04,259
I was out there shoveling dirt with new neighbors that

1611
01:48:04,259 --> 01:48:07,939
I'd never met before, when Matt Dell, as he then,

1612
01:48:07,939 --> 01:48:10,899
was not counselor Dell Road by took a picture of

1613
01:48:10,899 --> 01:48:14,948
all of us and published it. Again. I've met people

1614
01:48:14,948 --> 01:48:20,056
through these things. And I'm hesitant. I look forward to

1615
01:48:20,056 --> 01:48:23,376
hearing comments from other counselors before deciding how I'll vote.

1616
01:48:23,376 --> 01:48:27,275
Thank you very much. Anyone else on this one? So

1617
01:48:27,275 --> 01:48:29,395
we're going to vote first on the amendment, depending upon

1618
01:48:29,395 --> 01:48:32,395
whether or not the amendment carries that will indicate to

1619
01:48:32,395 --> 01:48:34,635
us whether when we vote on number four, whether it's

1620
01:48:34,635 --> 01:48:38,915
100. Or 152. So not hearing any more comments. Again,

1621
01:48:38,915 --> 01:48:41,675
if you would like the amendment to pass so that

1622
01:48:41,675 --> 01:48:45,155
the number that we're discussing is smaller. You vote in

1623
01:48:45,155 --> 01:48:47,195
favor of the amendment, so. It would be 100, not.

1624
01:48:47,424 --> 01:48:53,745
152. So in favor of 100, please indicate. Elsar, Hammond,

1625
01:48:53,745 --> 01:48:57,465
myself, councilor caradona, councilor Coleman, councilor jail, Councilor Gardner. And

1626
01:48:57,465 --> 01:49:01,585
opposition councilor Loton, Councilor Thompson to councilor Kim. So the

1627
01:49:01,585 --> 01:49:06,888
amendment is carried. So the number changes to 100,000. And

1628
01:49:06,888 --> 01:49:10,808
there is still room to discuss further that amount in

1629
01:49:10,808 --> 01:49:16,008
general. Any further comments on this item? At 100,000. Kind

1630
01:49:16,008 --> 01:49:18,608
of like I'm at an auction. Go ahead, Councilor Thompson.

1631
01:49:18,608 --> 01:49:21,248
Happy to see that going back in and maybe staff

1632
01:49:21,248 --> 01:49:23,648
have the flexibility to change the amounts given. Out to

1633
01:49:23,648 --> 01:49:27,652
each group. So it's still a program, and that's the

1634
01:49:27,652 --> 01:49:32,737
important point. Thank you very much. Anyone else? So, again,

1635
01:49:32,737 --> 01:49:38,217
wanting to turn $100,000 returned into the 2026 budget, all

1636
01:49:38,217 --> 01:49:44,164
those in favor. Councilor Hammond, Lowton, Thompson, Kim, myself carried

1637
01:49:44,164 --> 01:49:47,484
on at Coleman, Del and Gardner. That's unanimous. So, number

1638
01:49:47,484 --> 01:49:50,684
four, the my great neighborhood grants at the reduced amount

1639
01:49:50,684 --> 01:49:54,924
of 100,000 is. Carried. Thank you. Up next is theater

1640
01:49:54,924 --> 01:50:00,928
scam. Who asked this freebie back in? Councilor Kim, theater

1641
01:50:00,928 --> 01:50:04,148
scan. Yes, thanks. I actually would like to move an

1642
01:50:04,148 --> 01:50:09,911
amendment to modify it to 15,000. So you're moving an

1643
01:50:09,911 --> 01:50:13,807
amendment to change 20 to 15? One five. Okay, we'll

1644
01:50:13,807 --> 01:50:15,647
just get that up there with staff. Thank you very

1645
01:50:15,647 --> 01:50:19,771
much. Is there a secondary for that amendment. Thompson seconding

1646
01:50:19,771 --> 01:50:23,863
councilor Kim. Motivating on the amendment. Yeah, thanks. This is

1647
01:50:23,863 --> 01:50:26,543
for me, an item that I'm not as familiar with

1648
01:50:26,543 --> 01:50:30,047
as growing in the city, for example. But I remember

1649
01:50:30,047 --> 01:50:33,967
receiving correspondence from tourists saying they actually come to Victoria

1650
01:50:33,967 --> 01:50:39,521
to visit theater, the scampede. And there are youth who

1651
01:50:39,521 --> 01:50:41,961
I have met who have benefited from being a part

1652
01:50:41,961 --> 01:50:45,481
of the program. I've seen really great productions. And so,

1653
01:50:45,481 --> 01:50:48,201
again, it has that soft impact that we can't always

1654
01:50:48,201 --> 01:50:54,389
quantify. But. It's also, frankly, in the face of the

1655
01:50:54,389 --> 01:50:58,549
political climate wherein arts are always on the chopping block.

1656
01:50:58,549 --> 01:51:03,709
And art is a very real reflection of our political

1657
01:51:03,709 --> 01:51:06,829
space. And to me, that is, in principle, really valuable

1658
01:51:06,829 --> 01:51:11,086
and worth at least 15,000. Thanks. Thank you, Councilor Thompson,

1659
01:51:11,086 --> 01:51:14,126
you and the secondary. Anything I can add? Okay, anyone

1660
01:51:14,126 --> 01:51:16,926
else on? This council gardener. I just want to read

1661
01:51:16,926 --> 01:51:20,886
the staff report on it. This organization is not fully

1662
01:51:20,886 --> 01:51:23,566
acting as an arts hub as proposed. In addition, they

1663
01:51:23,566 --> 01:51:26,566
have received much other city funding through various grant programs

1664
01:51:26,566 --> 01:51:30,703
in comparison to other arts organizations. This grant does not

1665
01:51:30,703 --> 01:51:34,183
fall within an application based competitive program like other city

1666
01:51:34,183 --> 01:51:40,995
grants for arts organizations. And so that's why. Don't support

1667
01:51:40,995 --> 01:51:46,245
the change. Or bringing this back. Thank you, Councilor Dell.

1668
01:51:48,134 --> 01:51:50,174
Oh, this is just on the 15,000. Okay, never mind.

1669
01:51:50,174 --> 01:51:53,534
Sorry. Just on the amendment, okay? That being said, on

1670
01:51:53,534 --> 01:51:57,301
the amendment to go from 20 to 15. Saying no

1671
01:51:57,301 --> 01:51:59,621
further. So on the amendment to move from 20 to

1672
01:51:59,621 --> 01:52:06,724
15, all those in favor? Emman. Myself, Carolina, Coleman, Dell

1673
01:52:06,724 --> 01:52:10,284
and Gardner. That was unanimous. Thank you for that. Moving

1674
01:52:10,284 --> 01:52:15,484
back to now, the now amended motion to return $15,000

1675
01:52:15,484 --> 01:52:20,133
for theater scam. Ms. Moore, do you have any comments?

1676
01:52:21,631 --> 01:52:25,831
On the commentary that this does not meet any of

1677
01:52:25,831 --> 01:52:33,049
our program. Requirements for granting. How did this get in

1678
01:52:33,049 --> 01:52:37,475
the budget in the first place? Through you, mayor. I

1679
01:52:37,475 --> 01:52:41,115
believe it was through council's motion that this good for

1680
01:52:41,115 --> 01:52:47,505
us. Was added back in. Okay. Thanks for being so

1681
01:52:47,505 --> 01:52:50,945
terribly honest. All right, so this is here even. At

1682
01:52:50,945 --> 01:52:54,865
a reduced rate because of an earlier council decision, obviously.

1683
01:52:54,865 --> 01:52:57,865
So now on this, anyone further comments? On theater scam

1684
01:52:57,865 --> 01:53:02,633
at 15,000 councilor Doe. Sure. I'm very hesitant to do

1685
01:53:02,633 --> 01:53:04,793
this because it's not my favorite thing to do here.

1686
01:53:06,159 --> 01:53:09,178
But. We have a bunch of amazing theater organizations in

1687
01:53:09,178 --> 01:53:12,295
the. Theater scam is absolutely one of them. When I

1688
01:53:12,295 --> 01:53:14,375
was the president of South Jubilee, they came every year

1689
01:53:14,375 --> 01:53:18,255
to do presentations that I have very fond memories of.

1690
01:53:18,255 --> 01:53:20,255
But there's a lot of great organizations that are doing

1691
01:53:20,255 --> 01:53:22,575
different spots. Obviously, other guys theater, who just two weeks

1692
01:53:22,575 --> 01:53:26,090
ago opened a building. A number of other companies operating

1693
01:53:26,090 --> 01:53:28,290
throughout the theater. So this is the weird funding that

1694
01:53:28,290 --> 01:53:30,290
at some point in the past, a council member brought

1695
01:53:30,290 --> 01:53:32,930
forward a motion to give this particular group funding and

1696
01:53:32,930 --> 01:53:35,290
not all the other ones. So I would actually rather

1697
01:53:35,290 --> 01:53:38,090
see this funding be removed from here, put somewhere back

1698
01:53:38,090 --> 01:53:40,010
into a grant program that's accessible by a lot of

1699
01:53:40,010 --> 01:53:41,650
the different groups because I know there's even new and

1700
01:53:41,650 --> 01:53:44,130
up and coming groups that aren't able to access funding.

1701
01:53:45,051 --> 01:53:47,131
So it's not that I want to cut $15,000 from

1702
01:53:47,131 --> 01:53:48,371
funding, but I just find it a bit odd that

1703
01:53:48,371 --> 01:53:50,411
it's going to one specific group where it should be

1704
01:53:50,411 --> 01:53:53,851
in, like, a proper grant funding. I know. This year

1705
01:53:53,851 --> 01:53:56,251
I worked a lot with theater intrepid. Theater, for example,

1706
01:53:56,251 --> 01:53:59,254
and they lost their space. They're one of our biggest

1707
01:53:59,254 --> 01:54:01,534
theater organizations, and we weren't able to fund them. But

1708
01:54:01,534 --> 01:54:06,064
it's just another example of. Perhaps a need for a

1709
01:54:06,064 --> 01:54:08,984
grant program that staff can actually analyze who could best

1710
01:54:08,984 --> 01:54:11,584
use the money? Rather than having a targeted grant for

1711
01:54:11,584 --> 01:54:15,256
one particular group, even though they are fantastic. So I

1712
01:54:15,256 --> 01:54:17,216
hate to advocate against arts funding, but I do think

1713
01:54:17,216 --> 01:54:18,736
this one is a bit odd. And this might be

1714
01:54:18,736 --> 01:54:21,176
the year that we just removed this, and hopefully they

1715
01:54:21,176 --> 01:54:23,616
can get similar funding. Through one of our established programs,

1716
01:54:23,616 --> 01:54:26,856
like the festival investment grant or the cultural infrastructure grant,

1717
01:54:26,856 --> 01:54:29,416
where they would be a bit more appropriate. So to

1718
01:54:29,416 --> 01:54:34,698
my two cent. Thank you very much, councilor Kim. Sorry.

1719
01:54:34,698 --> 01:54:40,938
Quick question. Does theater scam know about this prospective loss

1720
01:54:40,938 --> 01:54:44,378
of income revenue? Ms. Mora, are you aware of that?

1721
01:54:44,378 --> 01:54:46,938
Other than this just being in the general public domain?

1722
01:54:48,607 --> 01:54:53,539
I believe this was listed. In the previous report to

1723
01:54:53,539 --> 01:55:00,484
counsel. Yes. And that previous report came out when? December

1724
01:55:00,484 --> 01:55:06,205
of 2024. The reason I ask is because. That doesn't

1725
01:55:06,205 --> 01:55:09,085
line up necessarily with financial planning of an organization like

1726
01:55:09,085 --> 01:55:12,325
Peter Scam and so I hear what my colleagues are

1727
01:55:12,325 --> 01:55:16,316
saying, and I actually am swayed. I don't like the

1728
01:55:16,316 --> 01:55:20,989
idea of offboarding a theater company. Suddenly losing a big

1729
01:55:20,989 --> 01:55:25,683
chunk. I do think some sort of transitional amount. Before

1730
01:55:25,683 --> 01:55:29,443
we consider mixing it all together in the future is

1731
01:55:29,443 --> 01:55:31,523
actually more reasonable. So I'm going to move an amendment

1732
01:55:31,523 --> 01:55:34,927
to actually just change that again to 5000. Yes, you

1733
01:55:34,927 --> 01:55:37,928
can certainly do that. An amendment to go from 15

1734
01:55:37,928 --> 01:55:41,958
to five. Let staff catch up with us here. Very

1735
01:55:41,958 --> 01:55:45,358
good. Is there a secondary for that amendment, councilor? Della

1736
01:55:45,358 --> 01:55:50,895
seconding. Councilor Kim, anything on the amendment? No. Councilor Dell,

1737
01:55:50,895 --> 01:55:56,075
anything on the amendment? Anyone else on the amendments? All

1738
01:55:56,075 --> 01:56:03,033
those in favor of the amendment. Anyone opposed? That is

1739
01:56:03,033 --> 01:56:07,913
unanimous. Back to councilor Kim for any further comments on

1740
01:56:07,913 --> 01:56:11,273
the now $5,000 allocation. Thank you? Yeah, I just think

1741
01:56:11,273 --> 01:56:16,873
it's, like, operationally sensitive to an organization's needs. And again,

1742
01:56:16,873 --> 01:56:19,673
number two is 8000. So to me, this is a

1743
01:56:19,673 --> 01:56:22,553
rounding error in the scope. Of a city budget, but

1744
01:56:22,553 --> 01:56:25,882
for them proportionately could be quite useful in terms. Of

1745
01:56:25,882 --> 01:56:30,384
transitioning or paying. For a grant writer to. Anyway, you

1746
01:56:30,384 --> 01:56:36,104
get it. Councilor Thompson. Thanks, mayor. My colleague, councilor. Del

1747
01:56:36,104 --> 01:56:38,864
made an interesting and good point about this being a

1748
01:56:38,864 --> 01:56:41,624
unique grant, and he would rather see it go into

1749
01:56:41,624 --> 01:56:44,344
a general granting fund that people could apply for, including

1750
01:56:44,344 --> 01:56:47,864
theater scam. Just wondering. Mayor, what would be the opportunity

1751
01:56:47,864 --> 01:56:50,207
to. Make that happen. Would that be a motion arising

1752
01:56:50,207 --> 01:56:53,927
after this? It could be. There will be an opportunity

1753
01:56:53,927 --> 01:56:57,007
down the road in subsequent appendices to deal with the

1754
01:56:57,007 --> 01:56:59,807
issue of grants in general. And so it may be

1755
01:56:59,807 --> 01:57:02,767
that at that point, you want to either introduce different

1756
01:57:02,767 --> 01:57:05,767
criteria or direct staff to create new criteria or just

1757
01:57:05,767 --> 01:57:09,238
to admit the actual budget itself. You will see that

1758
01:57:09,238 --> 01:57:12,038
when we get to appendix B, we'll be dealing with

1759
01:57:12,038 --> 01:57:16,984
a number. Of granting options. Council Cardano. Thanks, mayor. This

1760
01:57:16,984 --> 01:57:19,024
one's also a challenging one for me because I love

1761
01:57:19,024 --> 01:57:22,504
theater scam like I think everybody does. And I'm proud

1762
01:57:22,504 --> 01:57:24,344
of the fact that the city has funded them for

1763
01:57:24,344 --> 01:57:26,264
a number of years, but I don't think it's. Appropriate

1764
01:57:26,264 --> 01:57:28,744
for us to be permanently funding one theater. There's a

1765
01:57:28,744 --> 01:57:31,344
lot of theaters struggling in the city. I do think

1766
01:57:31,344 --> 01:57:34,224
it's more appropriate for that money to get maybe bumped

1767
01:57:34,224 --> 01:57:37,695
over. To the Sig or the fig or something like

1768
01:57:37,695 --> 01:57:40,335
that. That would be more appropriate for a theater to

1769
01:57:40,335 --> 01:57:43,650
apply to. So it's difficult one, but for me, I'm

1770
01:57:43,650 --> 01:57:47,154
going to vote against this one. Thank you. What else?

1771
01:57:48,975 --> 01:57:52,695
I would echo the last comments. It's always difficult to

1772
01:57:52,695 --> 01:57:55,135
pick and choose, but here we are picking and choosing

1773
01:57:55,135 --> 01:57:56,935
throughout a very long list that's only going to get

1774
01:57:56,935 --> 01:58:01,309
longer. And so the fact for me is that this

1775
01:58:01,309 --> 01:58:05,884
has been in the public domain since 2024. It's not.

1776
01:58:06,607 --> 01:58:09,687
A secret staff were directed by council to seek out

1777
01:58:09,687 --> 01:58:12,647
every opportunity to reduce the budget and this was included

1778
01:58:12,647 --> 01:58:15,567
at that time is my understanding. And so for that

1779
01:58:15,567 --> 01:58:18,977
reason, unfortunately, I am not going to support. This inclusion.

1780
01:58:21,708 --> 01:58:24,788
Reinclusion. All right, noting once again that what we are

1781
01:58:24,788 --> 01:58:29,228
voting on is returning $5,000. To the budget dedicated to

1782
01:58:29,228 --> 01:58:38,279
theater scam. All those in favor. Yeah, I know, I

1783
01:58:38,279 --> 01:58:42,035
know, I know. All right. You're following along. We're on

1784
01:58:42,035 --> 01:58:48,844
number five. I got confused trying to jump ahead, that

1785
01:58:48,844 --> 01:58:53,407
is. Okay. So, number five. From a famous line from

1786
01:58:53,407 --> 01:58:57,574
an old film, number five. Theater scam. $5,000. All those

1787
01:58:57,574 --> 01:59:07,326
in favor? Loton thompson, kim dell in opposition. Hammond,

1788
01:59:07,326 --> 01:59:12,006
myself, Cardona, Coleman and Gardner that is defeated. And thus,

1789
01:59:12,006 --> 01:59:15,606
for the first time, We can remove something from this

1790
01:59:15,606 --> 01:59:23,200
list. It might be better, actually. Rotor. I know. I

1791
01:59:23,200 --> 01:59:25,840
wasn't going to point that out. Ms. Rotor might be

1792
01:59:25,840 --> 01:59:27,960
better, actually. I know what I said earlier. You can

1793
01:59:27,960 --> 01:59:29,320
just delete it, but it might be better just. To

1794
01:59:29,320 --> 01:59:31,520
put a strike through through it just so that we

1795
01:59:31,520 --> 01:59:34,440
can see once we get through all of this. What

1796
01:59:34,440 --> 01:59:36,840
changes have been done and to what degree? Just leave

1797
01:59:36,840 --> 01:59:41,107
it there. And. You can just leave it, struck out,

1798
01:59:41,107 --> 01:59:43,507
and we'll know what that means moving on, then. To

1799
01:59:43,507 --> 01:59:46,587
number six. This is the Butler Book Prize and Children's

1800
01:59:46,587 --> 01:59:50,547
Book Prize, which is right. Now at $10,000. Someone put

1801
01:59:50,547 --> 02:00:00,459
this back in. Go ahead. Gvpl. Liaison. So. It's just

1802
02:00:00,459 --> 02:00:04,259
my love of books is just on display here. The

1803
02:00:04,259 --> 02:00:06,219
other thing too. Again. Bringing this back to a broader

1804
02:00:06,219 --> 02:00:11,008
political context is I heard this very compelling case. About

1805
02:00:11,008 --> 02:00:17,737
maintaining literacy and literature. Programs and projects because. It's this.

1806
02:00:19,708 --> 02:00:24,933
That actually cultivates empathetic citizenry. If you are reading books,

1807
02:00:24,933 --> 02:00:28,773
you are taking in alternative perspectives and broadening the way

1808
02:00:28,773 --> 02:00:31,853
you explore and engage with the world and at a

1809
02:00:31,853 --> 02:00:35,913
time polarization. I know this doesn't feel like there's a

1810
02:00:35,913 --> 02:00:39,153
clear connection, but to me, I see it, and I

1811
02:00:39,153 --> 02:00:44,252
think. This can go a small but impactful way in

1812
02:00:44,252 --> 02:00:51,858
terms of maintaining community. The opposite of polarization. Thanks. Conclusion.

1813
02:00:51,858 --> 02:00:56,690
There you go. Anyone else on this particular one? Councilor

1814
02:00:56,690 --> 02:01:04,091
Coleman. Thank you. Historically. The city's role wasn't there. It

1815
02:01:04,091 --> 02:01:07,131
was the Butler Book prize for adult literature. And it

1816
02:01:07,131 --> 02:01:12,267
was the Boland Book Prize for children's literature. Bolands moved

1817
02:01:12,267 --> 02:01:16,593
out of that and we picked it up. Our component

1818
02:01:16,593 --> 02:01:21,651
was $10,000. I think you have to protect that. But

1819
02:01:21,651 --> 02:01:23,491
we also have to think about how we could move.

1820
02:01:23,491 --> 02:01:27,251
It to another future corporate sponsor. And I think there

1821
02:01:27,251 --> 02:01:29,171
are some out there, and I know there have been

1822
02:01:29,171 --> 02:01:33,011
some discussions around it. From the larger perspective, we need

1823
02:01:33,011 --> 02:01:40,503
to recognize. That. Comprehension levels in Canada are judged to

1824
02:01:40,503 --> 02:01:43,743
be about grade seven and declining. We're still two. Years

1825
02:01:43,743 --> 02:01:49,476
ahead of the United States. Adult illiteracy is tracking at

1826
02:01:49,476 --> 02:01:52,956
about 30%, and it tracks right through from school and

1827
02:01:52,956 --> 02:01:55,636
if that's not a scary thing, then stop and think

1828
02:01:55,636 --> 02:02:00,262
about. Working with ten or nine other people and recognize

1829
02:02:00,262 --> 02:02:03,342
that in an industrial accident area, three of them cannot

1830
02:02:03,342 --> 02:02:09,576
read a hazmat manual. Investments in literature and literacy and

1831
02:02:09,576 --> 02:02:13,353
numeracy is terribly important. Do I think we stay in

1832
02:02:13,353 --> 02:02:15,513
this for a long time? No, but do I think

1833
02:02:15,513 --> 02:02:19,193
we protect. It this year. Yes. Thank you, Councilor Thompson.

1834
02:02:19,193 --> 02:02:22,633
And then councilor Garden, thanks to my colleagues. For making

1835
02:02:22,633 --> 02:02:24,993
my speech a lot shorter. Those are really good points.

1836
02:02:24,993 --> 02:02:30,415
I'll just address. The alternative funding sources that staff mentioned

1837
02:02:30,415 --> 02:02:33,735
that society could approach other sources, and I think that

1838
02:02:33,735 --> 02:02:38,537
the society probably has listening to this. Received a clear

1839
02:02:38,537 --> 02:02:40,777
hint that it probably should start doing that and probably

1840
02:02:40,777 --> 02:02:43,897
for next year. So I'll be opposing this cut for

1841
02:02:43,897 --> 02:02:46,057
this year, and we'll see how it goes next. Year.

1842
02:02:46,057 --> 02:02:49,617
Thank you very much. Clinton Gardner. Thank you. How many

1843
02:02:49,617 --> 02:02:52,937
people are going to their award ceremony? In ten days,

1844
02:02:52,937 --> 02:02:56,449
three or four of us. Good. Okay. I had a

1845
02:02:56,449 --> 02:02:58,169
lot of conversation with him about a year ago when

1846
02:02:58,169 --> 02:03:00,809
it came up because a year ago. They were told

1847
02:03:00,809 --> 02:03:02,769
it was going to be 2026. It's going to be.

1848
02:03:02,769 --> 02:03:07,093
Cut. And at that time, We had a couple of

1849
02:03:07,093 --> 02:03:11,535
discussions going forward with suggestions and what have you. But

1850
02:03:11,535 --> 02:03:15,215
they chose not to go that route and what they

1851
02:03:15,215 --> 02:03:17,055
were doing at the time, and I don't know the

1852
02:03:17,055 --> 02:03:19,735
status. Perhaps Ms. Moore knows the status at the stage.

1853
02:03:21,691 --> 02:03:24,560
They were going to be creating. A charity so they

1854
02:03:24,560 --> 02:03:28,576
could actually do fundraising in a different way. And so

1855
02:03:28,576 --> 02:03:33,576
I haven't heard any really advancement since then. And perhaps

1856
02:03:33,576 --> 02:03:37,548
someone else here knows. Do you have any further information?

1857
02:03:37,548 --> 02:03:39,548
I know I was involved in those conversations at a

1858
02:03:39,548 --> 02:03:43,508
preliminary basis. And council Gardner is correct. They are aware

1859
02:03:43,508 --> 02:03:47,913
that. The funding is declining and that the very generous

1860
02:03:47,913 --> 02:03:50,633
history of the Butler brothers has been removed and so

1861
02:03:50,633 --> 02:03:53,993
that's why they no longer have a big, splashy event.

1862
02:03:55,806 --> 02:03:58,126
But I think they're aware that they need to look

1863
02:03:58,126 --> 02:04:00,206
for additional sponsors in the future. And certainly there has

1864
02:04:00,206 --> 02:04:02,046
been conversation with them, but I'm not sure if anyone

1865
02:04:02,046 --> 02:04:04,006
else has. Any further updates? Do you have any further

1866
02:04:04,006 --> 02:04:08,987
updates? No. Okay. Thank you. I think Govern House is

1867
02:04:08,987 --> 02:04:11,827
a nice, splashy event, too. And that's when their book

1868
02:04:11,827 --> 02:04:14,947
prizes and ten days, so thank you. I just want

1869
02:04:14,947 --> 02:04:17,707
to see if anyone knew there. Was any update. Thank

1870
02:04:17,707 --> 02:04:25,231
you. Anyone else on this one? Council. My microphone is

1871
02:04:25,231 --> 02:04:29,680
still on. Jack and I were the SPCA gal a

1872
02:04:29,680 --> 02:04:34,680
little while ago, and in one night, they raised $778,000,

1873
02:04:34,680 --> 02:04:38,237
half of which was from one person. That everything that

1874
02:04:38,237 --> 02:04:41,277
was raised was matched. There are a lot of people

1875
02:04:41,277 --> 02:04:44,357
who were very generous in this town and that I

1876
02:04:44,357 --> 02:04:48,678
know for various awards. And all kinds of fundraising that

1877
02:04:48,678 --> 02:04:51,358
they will put up the money. And I believe push

1878
02:04:51,358 --> 02:04:53,198
comes to shove, they'll be able to do it for

1879
02:04:53,198 --> 02:04:55,798
a person who is a little bit dyslexic. So had

1880
02:04:55,798 --> 02:04:59,161
trouble reading when I was a kid. I don't really

1881
02:04:59,161 --> 02:05:02,417
think. A book prize would make any difference to whether

1882
02:05:02,417 --> 02:05:05,857
I read or not, but I also ended up for

1883
02:05:05,857 --> 02:05:07,577
all the troubles I had reading. Or the little bit

1884
02:05:07,577 --> 02:05:12,265
of troubles I had reading. I published three books for

1885
02:05:12,265 --> 02:05:15,540
my business, for example. So there's lots of opportunities for

1886
02:05:15,540 --> 02:05:21,932
people to do something like this. Anyone else? I'm going

1887
02:05:21,932 --> 02:05:24,772
to support remaining, having this retained for one year. But

1888
02:05:24,772 --> 02:05:27,212
I will say that I do believe that there are

1889
02:05:27,212 --> 02:05:31,447
opportunities for there to be new sponsors. So I agree

1890
02:05:31,447 --> 02:05:33,407
with the notion of hanging onto it and ensuring that

1891
02:05:33,407 --> 02:05:38,098
it continues because it is so important. But. I think

1892
02:05:38,098 --> 02:05:39,538
it's very important for us to make the commitment to

1893
02:05:39,538 --> 02:05:42,338
a system in discovering a new way for this to

1894
02:05:42,338 --> 02:05:44,578
be not just supported at this level, but to perhaps

1895
02:05:44,578 --> 02:05:47,738
be expanded. So that's looking forward to more work for

1896
02:05:47,738 --> 02:05:53,849
2027. With that voting in favor. To retain this and

1897
02:05:53,849 --> 02:05:57,289
put it back into the budget for 2026. All those

1898
02:05:57,289 --> 02:06:03,048
in favor? That would be Lowton, Thompson, Kim, myself, Caradona

1899
02:06:03,048 --> 02:06:07,648
Coleman, Adele and Gert Gardner. In opposition council Hammond noting

1900
02:06:07,648 --> 02:06:10,968
one in opposition, that one is returned. So that is

1901
02:06:10,968 --> 02:06:15,168
carried. Thank you very much staff for catching up. We're

1902
02:06:15,168 --> 02:06:17,528
halfway through this, and I'm wondering if I. Could just

1903
02:06:17,528 --> 02:06:21,825
trouble Ms. Thompson if she has it. Available. To remind

1904
02:06:21,825 --> 02:06:24,585
us now of what the impact of the first half

1905
02:06:24,585 --> 02:06:28,145
of this would be being returned. To our budget in

1906
02:06:28,145 --> 02:06:31,505
2026. If you need more time, that's okay too. We

1907
02:06:31,505 --> 02:06:34,973
can go on to a few more. Through the mayor.

1908
02:06:34,973 --> 02:06:39,613
So what has passed so far at zero point? 42%.

1909
02:06:39,613 --> 02:06:48,900
So we're at 8.71 right now. The city's portion. Very

1910
02:06:48,900 --> 02:06:51,300
good. Thank you so much for that. So let's tackle

1911
02:06:51,300 --> 02:06:53,780
the second half of this dozen and see if we

1912
02:06:53,780 --> 02:06:57,020
can get through these before we break today. So the

1913
02:06:57,020 --> 02:06:59,060
next one up is number seven. This is the operational

1914
02:06:59,060 --> 02:07:05,470
adjustment for response to medical emergency. Something under service assistance.

1915
02:07:05,470 --> 02:07:10,290
I think it's service assistance. I think that's what that

1916
02:07:10,290 --> 02:07:14,130
says. Pretty sure it won't go away. That's. Okay. And

1917
02:07:14,130 --> 02:07:17,530
actually, before we consider this one, I don't know if

1918
02:07:17,530 --> 02:07:20,770
Chief Atkinson is. On the line, but I do recall

1919
02:07:20,770 --> 02:07:24,347
that. He's not. Is there anyone who could remind us

1920
02:07:24,347 --> 02:07:26,667
of why this is here? Because I. Think this is

1921
02:07:26,667 --> 02:07:30,320
a significant amount, obviously. We have discussed this in the

1922
02:07:30,320 --> 02:07:31,920
past, but it wouldn't be a bad thing for us.

1923
02:07:31,920 --> 02:07:35,280
To have a very brief overview, if anyone is available

1924
02:07:35,280 --> 02:07:38,926
to do that. I'm looking at Ms. Thompson or Ms.

1925
02:07:38,926 --> 02:07:43,571
Jenkins. Is there a deputy chief or a senior staffer

1926
02:07:43,571 --> 02:07:45,811
who might be available, or does anyone here have a

1927
02:07:45,811 --> 02:07:49,879
sense of it. Through the merits, so I will start.

1928
02:07:49,879 --> 02:07:52,919
Obviously, Chief Atkinson would be the preferred person to speak

1929
02:07:52,919 --> 02:08:02,035
to. This. But essentially. The fire department goes to a

1930
02:08:02,035 --> 02:08:09,070
lot of medical calls. Where they actually don't provide. Any

1931
02:08:09,070 --> 02:08:13,750
life saving support. They're just there waiting for ambulance to

1932
02:08:13,750 --> 02:08:17,797
arrive. So what Chief Atkinson has proposed here is that.

1933
02:08:19,915 --> 02:08:25,280
They would still go to those. Labeled highest acuity call

1934
02:08:25,280 --> 02:08:31,176
types, meaning those that. Are life threatening. But not go

1935
02:08:31,176 --> 02:08:34,616
to the lower acuity calls, which in all of their

1936
02:08:34,616 --> 02:08:38,696
data and I don't have that at my fingertips. But

1937
02:08:38,696 --> 02:08:46,385
where? They actually don't provide. Any life saving support. And

1938
02:08:46,385 --> 02:08:49,305
so they're essentially just standing there waiting for ambulance to

1939
02:08:49,305 --> 02:08:52,425
come. And so this obviously is a significant savings if

1940
02:08:52,425 --> 02:08:56,321
we do not. Dispatch fire to those calls and they

1941
02:08:56,321 --> 02:08:58,441
can set it up. I do want to note that.

1942
02:08:59,806 --> 02:09:02,886
In a very smaller scale. But Defino just announced that

1943
02:09:02,886 --> 02:09:05,566
they are no longer going to any calls. So again,

1944
02:09:05,566 --> 02:09:08,366
in the city of Victoria, if this goes through, we

1945
02:09:08,366 --> 02:09:10,966
would continue to go to the highest acuity calls, but

1946
02:09:10,966 --> 02:09:13,606
not the ones where we currently are actually not providing

1947
02:09:13,606 --> 02:09:16,622
any service. Thank you for that. I wonder, do you

1948
02:09:16,622 --> 02:09:19,862
know whether or not there are other fire departments in

1949
02:09:19,862 --> 02:09:23,750
the South island. We're moving this direction as well. Through

1950
02:09:23,750 --> 02:09:25,550
you, Mayor. I don't know about South island, but I

1951
02:09:25,550 --> 02:09:27,750
do know that there are a number of departments, even

1952
02:09:27,750 --> 02:09:31,550
Vancouver, who are considering this kind of shift as the

1953
02:09:31,550 --> 02:09:35,390
downloading has happened from AHS. Right? Thank you for that.

1954
02:09:35,390 --> 02:09:39,230
Okay, so I believe councilor Kim was this. You? Yes,

1955
02:09:39,230 --> 02:09:41,630
it was. But actually, I had questions, which you wound

1956
02:09:41,630 --> 02:09:46,044
up asking. No, that was great. It actually answered the

1957
02:09:46,044 --> 02:09:49,004
gaps I had in my knowledge. So I actually don't

1958
02:09:49,004 --> 02:09:53,043
have a motivation. Who actually added this back in, if

1959
02:09:53,043 --> 02:09:55,283
I understood correctly, is okay with it, in fact, not

1960
02:09:55,283 --> 02:09:58,723
being added back in. So does anyone else wish to

1961
02:09:58,723 --> 02:10:04,671
have this returned to the budget? Not seeing. Anybody saying

1962
02:10:04,671 --> 02:10:09,188
yes? So with that, then. For the sake of the

1963
02:10:09,188 --> 02:10:13,668
procedure, I will move that this not be returned. So

1964
02:10:13,668 --> 02:10:16,268
I'm going to move that this be removed from the

1965
02:10:16,268 --> 02:10:20,064
list secondary for that. Yeah. Councilor Dell. Seconding that. Thank

1966
02:10:20,064 --> 02:10:22,384
you. And I don't think I need to. Motivate. I

1967
02:10:22,384 --> 02:10:26,464
think the explanation that was offered by staff is sufficient

1968
02:10:26,464 --> 02:10:28,944
and this is on the advice of the fire chief.

1969
02:10:28,944 --> 02:10:30,984
And so I think that's advice we should take, councilor.

1970
02:10:30,984 --> 02:10:33,544
Dell. Anything else that you want to add? No. So

1971
02:10:33,544 --> 02:10:35,744
again, if you wish to return this. To the budget.

1972
02:10:35,744 --> 02:10:38,224
Vote in favor if you wish to remove it from

1973
02:10:38,224 --> 02:10:44,286
the budget. Vote in opposition. Right. So you understand it?

1974
02:10:44,286 --> 02:10:47,046
So everyone, I believe everyone at the table nodded very

1975
02:10:47,046 --> 02:10:48,886
nicely as a bit of a straw pole to say,

1976
02:10:48,886 --> 02:10:53,217
I don't want this in there, vote no. Vote yes

1977
02:10:53,217 --> 02:10:55,657
if you want it to return to the budget. All

1978
02:10:55,657 --> 02:11:03,820
those in favor? No one in opposition. That is unanimous.

1979
02:11:03,820 --> 02:11:05,340
So you can put a strike through that one. Thank

1980
02:11:05,340 --> 02:11:09,184
you, Ms. Roder. And so, moving on, then. Yes. Next

1981
02:11:09,184 --> 02:11:12,424
is number eight, the poet laureate and youth poet laureate.

1982
02:11:12,424 --> 02:11:15,424
I believe this was also counsel. Yeah. Again, this is

1983
02:11:15,424 --> 02:11:19,558
admittedly coming from a very personal motivation. When I was

1984
02:11:19,558 --> 02:11:21,398
an acting mayor. I got to go to an event

1985
02:11:21,398 --> 02:11:27,721
where the Port Lauriet had showcased. Marie metaphors that showcased

1986
02:11:27,721 --> 02:11:31,041
the poetry of the workshop attendees that she had been

1987
02:11:31,041 --> 02:11:38,948
working with. And these are folks who. Do not. See

1988
02:11:38,948 --> 02:11:43,268
in conventional spaces. And there was finally an opportunity for

1989
02:11:43,268 --> 02:11:46,948
creative expression. And what I heard in their poetry and

1990
02:11:46,948 --> 02:11:49,948
their tone of voice was so much anger and distress.

1991
02:11:52,840 --> 02:11:55,480
At oppressive systems, and they finally had a way to

1992
02:11:55,480 --> 02:11:59,340
say it. And we've also gotten to benefit from the

1993
02:11:59,340 --> 02:12:07,266
poet laureate again. Bringing us literacy. And beauty through rhetoric

1994
02:12:07,266 --> 02:12:11,563
and prose. And I think there's something to be said

1995
02:12:11,563 --> 02:12:15,683
about the affective tone that having a poet laureate open

1996
02:12:15,683 --> 02:12:19,838
a council meeting also sets. I think it actually helped

1997
02:12:19,838 --> 02:12:24,174
us make better decisions, arguably. In calming us prior to

1998
02:12:24,174 --> 02:12:27,414
engaging in what could be contentious decisions. And so, again,

1999
02:12:29,219 --> 02:12:31,939
All of those qualitative things that are hard to quantify.

2000
02:12:33,485 --> 02:12:35,525
But I would be so remiss to see a piece.

2001
02:12:37,638 --> 02:12:40,518
Of what has made Victoria so lovable for me on

2002
02:12:40,518 --> 02:12:43,478
the shopping block. Thank you very much. Anyone else on

2003
02:12:43,478 --> 02:12:47,638
this one. Councilor Coleman. Thank you. While you are away

2004
02:12:47,638 --> 02:12:50,878
in October, your worship, I was the acting mayor, and

2005
02:12:50,878 --> 02:12:55,478
I got to unveil a bronze plaque on the Dallas

2006
02:12:55,478 --> 02:12:59,165
Road waterfront done by. A previous city of Victoria poet

2007
02:12:59,165 --> 02:13:04,525
laureate. It's the way we quietly infuse those wonderful little

2008
02:13:04,525 --> 02:13:08,819
spots that people. Can find, much like the spindle laurels

2009
02:13:08,819 --> 02:13:12,859
or any of the other statuary we have. Around town.

2010
02:13:12,859 --> 02:13:15,219
Now I recognize that I am biased. I come from

2011
02:13:15,219 --> 02:13:20,391
a family of poets. And. There is a spoken word

2012
02:13:20,391 --> 02:13:25,354
poetry contest and scholarship in my brother's name. He was

2013
02:13:25,354 --> 02:13:28,754
a mayor, and it's unusual to have poet laureates, but

2014
02:13:28,754 --> 02:13:31,834
as a capital city. I think there is a special

2015
02:13:31,834 --> 02:13:33,954
status for them, so I think that this is wholly

2016
02:13:33,954 --> 02:13:40,306
supportable. Very much. Anyone else? I'm going to support this

2017
02:13:40,306 --> 02:13:42,666
returning. I think this is what makes one of the

2018
02:13:42,666 --> 02:13:45,786
things that makes Victoria unique. And when I travel and

2019
02:13:45,786 --> 02:13:48,266
mention that the city has a pot laureate and in

2020
02:13:48,266 --> 02:13:51,466
particular, actually, the youth portrait people are both astonished and

2021
02:13:51,466 --> 02:13:54,386
thrilled. And so I think again, as we've discussed a

2022
02:13:54,386 --> 02:14:00,151
small amount. But an important investment. Anyone else on this

2023
02:14:00,151 --> 02:14:06,505
one? Yes. Do you any other municipalities in this? In

2024
02:14:06,505 --> 02:14:10,349
our peninsula. Ms. Moore, I don't believe anyone else in

2025
02:14:10,349 --> 02:14:12,549
the south island has a poet laureate do. They? Are

2026
02:14:12,549 --> 02:14:14,829
you aware of that? Through the mayor. We've been told

2027
02:14:14,829 --> 02:14:17,829
that sandwich is investigating. Having a poet laureate, but I

2028
02:14:17,829 --> 02:14:20,469
don't know that that's been confirmed yet, right? Okay. Thank

2029
02:14:20,469 --> 02:14:30,180
you. No. And maybe. Good point. Perhaps our poet

2030
02:14:30,180 --> 02:14:32,820
laureate may become all of our poet laureates next year.

2031
02:14:32,820 --> 02:14:36,911
There you go. To be determined. Very good. All right.

2032
02:14:36,911 --> 02:14:38,951
So again, if you wish to return this to the

2033
02:14:38,951 --> 02:14:41,991
budget. $8,000 for the Port Lorete and youth Port laureate

2034
02:14:41,991 --> 02:14:44,231
vote in favor. If you do not then vote in

2035
02:14:44,231 --> 02:14:50,842
opposition. All those in favor of returning the laureates? Councilor.

2036
02:14:50,842 --> 02:14:54,802
Just checking. Councilor loan, Councilor Thompson, Councilor Kim, myself, counselor.

2037
02:14:54,802 --> 02:14:59,202
Carried on councilor. Coleman, councilor Dell in opposition, councilor Hammond

2038
02:14:59,202 --> 02:15:02,482
and councilor Gardner. So noting to an opposition. The poet

2039
02:15:02,482 --> 02:15:05,962
laureate is returned. So that is again carried. That takes

2040
02:15:05,962 --> 02:15:11,195
us down to crosswalk. Installations. At 64,000 home. Is this

2041
02:15:11,195 --> 02:15:14,337
also councilor Kim? It is. Can I make a niche

2042
02:15:14,337 --> 02:15:17,577
joke about the path less taken as a poem and

2043
02:15:17,577 --> 02:15:21,900
crosswalks? But anyway. This is to me a safety measure.

2044
02:15:23,182 --> 02:15:27,000
And a lot of the decisions. That have faced us

2045
02:15:27,000 --> 02:15:32,680
on council ultimately have health and life impacts on folks.

2046
02:15:34,343 --> 02:15:38,383
My principle is do no harm or reduce whatever harm

2047
02:15:38,383 --> 02:15:41,475
you can. And this is one of them. We want

2048
02:15:41,475 --> 02:15:47,641
to keep kiddo safe. Will they crosswalk? And also, I

2049
02:15:47,641 --> 02:15:52,138
think it's safe to say, as councillor, liaison, Regardless of

2050
02:15:52,138 --> 02:15:55,498
what neighborhood you're in, you're probably as a counselor getting

2051
02:15:55,498 --> 02:15:59,338
emails from constituents who have concerns about the safety and

2052
02:15:59,338 --> 02:16:02,818
walkability of streets. And to me, this gesture is that

2053
02:16:02,818 --> 02:16:06,211
we haven't lost sight of that. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone

2054
02:16:06,211 --> 02:16:10,998
else on this one? I have a question. Perhaps. Ms.

2055
02:16:10,998 --> 02:16:12,558
Thompson, I don't know if it would be you or.

2056
02:16:12,558 --> 02:16:18,581
Mr. Doyle, but what's the impact of this change? Go

2057
02:16:18,581 --> 02:16:25,572
ahead. Deferred to assistant director Kenny. Thanks. Kenny, if we

2058
02:16:25,572 --> 02:16:28,692
do not return $64,000 to the crosswalk budget, what happens?

2059
02:16:30,493 --> 02:16:34,613
So if we do not return $64,000, it would represent

2060
02:16:34,613 --> 02:16:38,893
approximately one, maybe two crosswalks. Not delivered in the city

2061
02:16:38,893 --> 02:16:43,967
in 2026. The 64,000 represents less than 10% of the

2062
02:16:43,967 --> 02:16:46,327
program, so we would still have a fairly robust program

2063
02:16:46,327 --> 02:16:50,330
without the funding. Very good. Thank you for that. With

2064
02:16:50,330 --> 02:16:54,650
that, then I believe, Councilor Kimmy, you did include this.

2065
02:16:54,650 --> 02:16:57,843
You wish to continue having. No. Thank you for that

2066
02:16:57,843 --> 02:17:01,683
information, especially the part about the robustness of the program.

2067
02:17:01,683 --> 02:17:06,249
Thanks. Does anyone else wish to put this in? Return

2068
02:17:06,249 --> 02:17:09,649
this. No. I'm saying no. Therefore I will again just

2069
02:17:09,649 --> 02:17:14,169
reprocess I. Will move that this not be returned, and

2070
02:17:14,169 --> 02:17:17,859
I will assume councilor Kim will second that. And so,

2071
02:17:17,859 --> 02:17:21,219
again, for the crosswalk installations, just as a reminder, if

2072
02:17:21,219 --> 02:17:23,139
you wish it to be returned vote yes, but if

2073
02:17:23,139 --> 02:17:26,059
based on the information just shared by staff that you

2074
02:17:26,059 --> 02:17:29,099
in fact are comfortable with it being removed or continue

2075
02:17:29,099 --> 02:17:33,899
to be removed. Vote no. So all those in favor

2076
02:17:33,899 --> 02:17:38,216
of returning it to the budget? That is unanimously know.

2077
02:17:38,216 --> 02:17:43,256
All those in favor yes, all those in favor of

2078
02:17:43,256 --> 02:17:47,776
remaining outside the budget? Not returning it. Very good. Yes,

2079
02:17:47,776 --> 02:17:51,491
we did. That's right. So that is, in fact, defeated.

2080
02:17:53,497 --> 02:17:57,697
Also, cancellations will not return to the budget now. Next,

2081
02:17:57,697 --> 02:18:01,257
South Island Prosperity Partnership. Yes, go ahead. Councilor Karad. Yeah,

2082
02:18:01,257 --> 02:18:05,559
just very briefly. For folks who don't know what SIp

2083
02:18:05,559 --> 02:18:10,857
is. South island prosperity, partnership. They are our economic development

2084
02:18:10,857 --> 02:18:14,096
engine. That complements the work of the DVBA in the

2085
02:18:14,096 --> 02:18:17,136
chamber and really work regionally. Yes, this is a bit

2086
02:18:17,136 --> 02:18:20,376
of a budget allocation every year, but they do crucially

2087
02:18:20,376 --> 02:18:23,802
important work. In the local economy. They just recently launched

2088
02:18:23,802 --> 02:18:26,602
their possibility charter that a number of us were at.

2089
02:18:26,602 --> 02:18:30,647
In fact, the photo of it has. Councilor Coleman. At

2090
02:18:30,647 --> 02:18:34,014
the launch of the possibility charter. And I've had many,

2091
02:18:34,014 --> 02:18:36,814
many meetings with these folks, and they've helped me understand.

2092
02:18:36,814 --> 02:18:39,743
The value that they bring to the community. They've been

2093
02:18:39,743 --> 02:18:43,496
rather successful. In enticing small and medium businesses to open

2094
02:18:43,496 --> 02:18:48,339
up shop here, especially as relates to maritime industries. So.

2095
02:18:49,569 --> 02:18:51,569
One of their mandates is to try to get mid

2096
02:18:51,569 --> 02:18:54,809
sized businesses to come here that stimulate our economy and

2097
02:18:54,809 --> 02:18:58,409
employ folks. So given the economic challenges that we're all

2098
02:18:58,409 --> 02:19:01,209
facing across this country, given the challenges of our downtown

2099
02:19:01,209 --> 02:19:03,489
and all the downtowns. For me, this is not the

2100
02:19:03,489 --> 02:19:06,249
time. To be scaling back on investments in an economic

2101
02:19:06,249 --> 02:19:10,290
development agency. So I don't want this one removed. Very

2102
02:19:10,290 --> 02:19:12,530
good. Thank you very much. Any other comments? On this

2103
02:19:12,530 --> 02:19:17,688
one. Council Grudner. Thank you. I think it's important to

2104
02:19:17,688 --> 02:19:21,433
realize maybe the beginnings of this. Of the self doubt

2105
02:19:21,433 --> 02:19:26,313
and prosperity project. It's a partnership. And the city, Victoria

2106
02:19:26,313 --> 02:19:31,513
and other cities or municipalities created it. And the funding

2107
02:19:31,513 --> 02:19:36,427
that is here. Is not for the operations of all

2108
02:19:36,427 --> 02:19:39,987
the activities. It's for the administration and creating the environment.

2109
02:19:41,278 --> 02:19:46,509
In order. To. Look at how. We can actually really

2110
02:19:46,509 --> 02:19:51,778
work towards. Getting a more robust economy. And you've probably

2111
02:19:51,778 --> 02:19:55,949
heard of the coast. Last. I think it was October

2112
02:19:55,949 --> 02:20:01,402
20. Eigth coast had a wonderful. Event down on a

2113
02:20:01,402 --> 02:20:06,562
ship point. And you could see all the companies. The

2114
02:20:06,562 --> 02:20:08,882
startup companies and the work they were doing. And this

2115
02:20:08,882 --> 02:20:15,042
is very important work that is aimed at developing entrepreneurship.

2116
02:20:16,668 --> 02:20:20,668
And just helping our economy. But that is not what

2117
02:20:20,668 --> 02:20:23,148
this money goes for. Those are special grants. We hear?

2118
02:20:25,129 --> 02:20:29,682
About. Different aspects of coast and other groups, including the

2119
02:20:29,682 --> 02:20:35,762
Indigenous Prosperity section, getting huge grants and their grants. Though,

2120
02:20:35,762 --> 02:20:39,722
don't go to the operation of the South island prosperity

2121
02:20:39,722 --> 02:20:43,823
project. They go to their specific areas and specific projects.

2122
02:20:43,823 --> 02:20:47,144
And so this grant. Was not a grant, it was

2123
02:20:47,144 --> 02:20:52,144
a partnership. Was tied to actually the administration, which has

2124
02:20:52,144 --> 02:20:54,784
not grown in the last few years at all. They've

2125
02:20:54,784 --> 02:20:57,664
managed in spite of everything that's been going on in

2126
02:20:57,664 --> 02:21:02,321
our economy. And the pre pandemic and since. To not

2127
02:21:02,321 --> 02:21:07,999
actually grow that much. And they're very valuable and. I

2128
02:21:07,999 --> 02:21:10,999
know near me, near where I live, for example. There

2129
02:21:10,999 --> 02:21:13,359
is that. Oh, I'm going. To get the word wrong.

2130
02:21:13,359 --> 02:21:16,214
You're going to help me out here, Chris. I'm going

2131
02:21:16,214 --> 02:21:19,414
to say. What's it called now? Floats on the water.

2132
02:21:21,287 --> 02:21:25,617
This is. Behind. Right on Erie street. On the back

2133
02:21:25,617 --> 02:21:29,017
of it on the next street towards Ontario, and so

2134
02:21:29,017 --> 02:21:30,897
there's. A facility there. It used to be co down

2135
02:21:30,897 --> 02:21:34,337
electronics, and that's, for example. Something that's set up and

2136
02:21:34,337 --> 02:21:36,697
they do the. What am I looking for? Come on,

2137
02:21:36,697 --> 02:21:44,389
someone. Help me. Yeah. Should you? It's the mobile. Oaks

2138
02:21:44,389 --> 02:21:47,629
and sensors. Yeah. Ocean sensor type thing. And that's also

2139
02:21:47,629 --> 02:21:49,989
done with, I think, with. The song. He's. It's an

2140
02:21:49,989 --> 02:21:55,324
indigenous type of organization. It's wonderful. And they're developing it,

2141
02:21:55,324 --> 02:21:58,004
and that's what is happening, so. I don't see that

2142
02:21:58,004 --> 02:22:01,564
there's a duplication of services with the city because. The

2143
02:22:01,564 --> 02:22:06,651
city is more. Businesses oriented as opposed to let's develop

2144
02:22:06,651 --> 02:22:10,371
whole new products and let's get our products even beyond

2145
02:22:10,371 --> 02:22:16,389
the city. To become export items. Drove Canada and throughout

2146
02:22:16,389 --> 02:22:24,169
the world. It's a totally different. Organization. That exists in

2147
02:22:24,169 --> 02:22:27,049
this city. They've won awards because of their innovative way

2148
02:22:27,049 --> 02:22:31,889
of organizing themselves. And promoting the development of our economy.

2149
02:22:33,336 --> 02:22:37,508
So again. Their amount has not gone up much. So

2150
02:22:37,508 --> 02:22:40,268
I don't know. Is anyone else have any comments or

2151
02:22:40,268 --> 02:22:47,672
questions that I may fumble? On. Yes. I have several

2152
02:22:47,672 --> 02:22:50,712
questions, actually, but I will go to other people with

2153
02:22:50,712 --> 02:22:54,992
questions. First, councilor Hannah. Thanks, mayor. Despite the glowing things

2154
02:22:54,992 --> 02:22:58,599
that people say when I read from the staff, And

2155
02:22:58,599 --> 02:23:01,279
just because the public might not be aware, I was

2156
02:23:01,279 --> 02:23:03,719
wondering if someone could just explain why. They came to

2157
02:23:03,719 --> 02:23:06,319
this conclusion of not having it in here. And then

2158
02:23:06,319 --> 02:23:10,079
the second question I have is. How much of the

2159
02:23:10,079 --> 02:23:16,349
242,000 is this of sip's budget? Ms. Board. Do you

2160
02:23:16,349 --> 02:23:19,871
know that? Can you give a bit of an overview

2161
02:23:19,871 --> 02:23:26,978
as to what this contribution represents? Through you, mayor. I

2162
02:23:26,978 --> 02:23:31,375
think the counselor was asking. Why we put it into

2163
02:23:31,375 --> 02:23:38,928
the. And again, staff were given a very difficult. Task

2164
02:23:38,928 --> 02:23:42,920
of evaluating. What should stay and what should go. We

2165
02:23:42,920 --> 02:23:45,560
do have an economic development office here at the city.

2166
02:23:45,560 --> 02:23:48,640
We do have a business hub that services businesses day

2167
02:23:48,640 --> 02:23:52,360
to day. And when we use the word duplication. Yes,

2168
02:23:52,360 --> 02:23:54,920
they do do different things than we do. But if

2169
02:23:54,920 --> 02:23:57,680
it was cutting some of our internal budget versus an

2170
02:23:57,680 --> 02:24:00,680
external agency. We decided to go with the external agency.

2171
02:24:01,250 --> 02:24:04,512
And that was the rationale. Through you. Mayor, you asked

2172
02:24:04,512 --> 02:24:09,154
another question. Sorry about this. If you could estimate. Or

2173
02:24:09,154 --> 02:24:13,674
maybe you can't. 242k what portion of their total budget?

2174
02:24:13,674 --> 02:24:17,497
Would this represent? I don't have that at my fingertips,

2175
02:24:17,497 --> 02:24:19,697
but I could find that out. I think that would

2176
02:24:19,697 --> 02:24:24,032
be helpful. In the same time, could you provide a

2177
02:24:24,032 --> 02:24:27,392
few examples of what they do that our economic development

2178
02:24:27,392 --> 02:24:31,338
people do not. To you, mayor. They do look at

2179
02:24:31,338 --> 02:24:37,964
the region. From an economic lens. And as councilor Gardner

2180
02:24:37,964 --> 02:24:42,275
pointed out, They are heavily into the blue economy. Open

2181
02:24:42,275 --> 02:24:45,475
ocean robotics, I believe, is what councilor Gardner was. Speaking

2182
02:24:45,475 --> 02:24:52,778
to. So developing and creating innovating things here locally. To

2183
02:24:52,778 --> 02:24:55,178
market them out to the world, so they're doing it

2184
02:24:55,178 --> 02:24:59,274
on a much broader scale. On an industry level of

2185
02:24:59,274 --> 02:25:02,714
building the economy where we are boots on the ground

2186
02:25:02,714 --> 02:25:08,313
with small businesses. And getting them. Into. Vacant retail spaces

2187
02:25:08,313 --> 02:25:11,361
as quickly as possible. Councilor Hammond. Do you still have

2188
02:25:11,361 --> 02:25:14,001
the floor? A few more questions. That's it. Any. Other

2189
02:25:14,001 --> 02:25:18,321
questions. Councilor Coleman, Councilor Gardner, not a question. Your comment?

2190
02:25:18,321 --> 02:25:26,513
Sure. I think Sip does astounding work. Their failure is

2191
02:25:26,513 --> 02:25:30,593
that they don't market themselves very well. They don't explain

2192
02:25:30,593 --> 02:25:33,353
the work they do, it is different and distinct from.

2193
02:25:35,006 --> 02:25:38,606
What we do in supporting local business, particularly in the

2194
02:25:38,606 --> 02:25:41,926
city of Victoria and particularly downtown. Their focus is much

2195
02:25:41,926 --> 02:25:46,446
more about external opportunities and bringing that economic potential here.

2196
02:25:48,814 --> 02:25:51,614
And that with it, and particularly focusing on the blue

2197
02:25:51,614 --> 02:25:56,326
economy. Is about the world stage and getting some local

2198
02:25:56,326 --> 02:25:59,326
employment that supports those things. We have had history in

2199
02:25:59,326 --> 02:26:02,486
the past, and unfortunately, we've lost some of those. So

2200
02:26:02,486 --> 02:26:05,326
this is about bringing it. Back, and it links into

2201
02:26:05,326 --> 02:26:09,486
First nations economic opportunities as well. So I support this

2202
02:26:09,486 --> 02:26:12,006
one, but I recognize that staff were put in a

2203
02:26:12,006 --> 02:26:16,889
very awkward position. In trying to find the cuts. That

2204
02:26:16,889 --> 02:26:18,489
we are going to have to figure out. And when

2205
02:26:18,489 --> 02:26:21,409
we come to section b, it's. Going to be even

2206
02:26:21,409 --> 02:26:26,622
tougher now. Councilor Gerner. Thank you. When I mentioned partnership,

2207
02:26:26,622 --> 02:26:30,142
I started out with municipalities, but they have, of course,

2208
02:26:30,142 --> 02:26:34,622
a lot of industries. And different financial groups have contributed

2209
02:26:34,622 --> 02:26:37,902
even to the base funding. In fact, the funding now

2210
02:26:37,902 --> 02:26:41,662
is 60% municipal and about 40% private. This is for

2211
02:26:41,662 --> 02:26:45,142
the operations, remember, not for the projects. And all the

2212
02:26:45,142 --> 02:26:48,055
init. Initiatives. And so that's what it is. And about

2213
02:26:48,055 --> 02:26:51,015
a third of the funding of their core of the

2214
02:26:51,015 --> 02:26:54,415
municipal portion comes from the city of Victoria. Another, more

2215
02:26:54,415 --> 02:26:57,975
or less third from Sanich and another third from the

2216
02:26:57,975 --> 02:27:01,415
other municipalities that are involved. I do have a suggestion.

2217
02:27:01,415 --> 02:27:04,375
If I may make one. Can we refer this? I

2218
02:27:04,375 --> 02:27:06,969
understand that the south online Prosperity project. Is coming to

2219
02:27:06,969 --> 02:27:09,769
speak to us next week. Yes, I believe they are.

2220
02:27:09,769 --> 02:27:15,830
Could we refer this to. Our November 21 session. Or

2221
02:27:15,830 --> 02:27:17,830
do we think with us just holding? Okay. It's okay.

2222
02:27:17,830 --> 02:27:22,706
I take that back. I take that back. It's not

2223
02:27:22,706 --> 02:27:25,426
a final decision. No, that is true. That's very true.

2224
02:27:28,010 --> 02:27:30,370
If no one wants to delay, they can. And certainly

2225
02:27:30,370 --> 02:27:33,130
we have the ability to review all of this again

2226
02:27:33,130 --> 02:27:36,780
at the end. And should we magically discover some reason

2227
02:27:36,780 --> 02:27:38,220
why we didn't want to support one of these. We

2228
02:27:38,220 --> 02:27:42,248
can always pull them. That's fine. All right. So, anything

2229
02:27:42,248 --> 02:27:44,528
else anyone would like to say about South Ellie? Go

2230
02:27:44,528 --> 02:27:49,668
ahead, Kim. Thanks. Through the chair. I will offer one

2231
02:27:49,668 --> 02:27:53,108
tangential observation, which is if we look at the federal

2232
02:27:53,108 --> 02:27:57,620
government, You're seeing a lot of investment in marine technology.

2233
02:27:59,446 --> 02:28:02,366
And we happen to be by the naval base where

2234
02:28:02,366 --> 02:28:06,046
there is also investment happening, not things I personally love,

2235
02:28:06,046 --> 02:28:09,126
but there is an economic connection to what we're seeing

2236
02:28:09,126 --> 02:28:11,926
here, so I'll raise that. Thank you very much for

2237
02:28:11,926 --> 02:28:14,566
that, Councilor Gardner. I should just point out for the

2238
02:28:14,566 --> 02:28:17,486
public. The reason councilor Gartner is answering these questions is

2239
02:28:17,486 --> 02:28:20,346
because she is actually the city's appointee. To sip, and

2240
02:28:20,346 --> 02:28:23,906
so she has a very regular relationship with them. So

2241
02:28:23,906 --> 02:28:26,386
I'll put the question either to you. Councilor Orton is

2242
02:28:26,386 --> 02:28:29,026
more. You mentioned the third is the city a third?

2243
02:28:29,026 --> 02:28:32,106
Is Sanich and the other third are other municipalities. Is

2244
02:28:32,106 --> 02:28:36,939
every other municipality in the region a contributor? No. And

2245
02:28:36,939 --> 02:28:38,179
do you happen to know off the top of your

2246
02:28:38,179 --> 02:28:42,052
head who do not contribute? Pardon? Do you happen to

2247
02:28:42,052 --> 02:28:43,932
remember off the top of your head who do not

2248
02:28:43,932 --> 02:28:50,292
contribute? I have to get the list of them. I

2249
02:28:50,292 --> 02:28:52,758
don't want to name one if I'm wrong. And so

2250
02:28:52,758 --> 02:28:57,865
I'm going to say. The one municipality who usually doesn't

2251
02:28:57,865 --> 02:29:02,100
participate. And a couple of others. Do you know that

2252
02:29:02,100 --> 02:29:04,980
Ms. Morrison and central senator, I believe, has blacked out.

2253
02:29:07,130 --> 02:29:10,528
I'm not sure. I shouldn't be saying this because I'm

2254
02:29:10,528 --> 02:29:15,121
going to get them wrong. Through the mayor. The Southeastern

2255
02:29:15,121 --> 02:29:18,506
Prosperity Partnership is watching us right now. Great. So they

2256
02:29:18,506 --> 02:29:22,066
have answered the first question. Which is? Our contribution is

2257
02:29:22,066 --> 02:29:26,426
22% towards their operations. Great. And I'm just going to

2258
02:29:26,426 --> 02:29:29,586
ask right now if all the municipalities are funders. One

2259
02:29:29,586 --> 02:29:31,826
moment, Ms. Thompson. Do you know that? I think Ms.

2260
02:29:31,826 --> 02:29:36,226
Thompson knows that, actually, yes. And just for clarity, too,

2261
02:29:36,226 --> 02:29:40,369
depending on. What you're looking at. Obviously, they have other

2262
02:29:40,369 --> 02:29:45,417
funding sources than municipal contributions. So the City of Victoria's

2263
02:29:45,417 --> 02:29:50,577
chair of the municipal contribution towards their operation is 35.22%.

2264
02:29:52,233 --> 02:29:58,832
Sandwiches is 28.88%. And from what I can see, I

2265
02:29:58,832 --> 02:30:04,910
have eleven municipalities who are part of it. Machozen is

2266
02:30:04,910 --> 02:30:08,913
one that isn't. I have to think who the other

2267
02:30:08,913 --> 02:30:11,513
one is. Nothing is popping to my mind, and there

2268
02:30:11,513 --> 02:30:14,233
are a number of first nation participants as well, I

2269
02:30:14,233 --> 02:30:22,158
believe. Yes. Okay, so the answer to the question in

2270
02:30:22,158 --> 02:30:25,924
general is it's not everybody, but it's. Mostly everybody. And

2271
02:30:25,924 --> 02:30:27,644
the city is a little more than a third. Senate

2272
02:30:27,644 --> 02:30:29,524
is a little less than a third. And the rest

2273
02:30:29,524 --> 02:30:33,244
are a variety, and those make up about 60% of

2274
02:30:33,244 --> 02:30:37,564
the total budget, right? Okay. All right. Very good. Anyone

2275
02:30:37,564 --> 02:30:41,004
else on this particular one? Mayor just popped up to

2276
02:30:41,004 --> 02:30:43,764
us. Who? They're missing. Other person was. So Langford is

2277
02:30:43,764 --> 02:30:45,804
not part of it either. Oh, my. Goodness. All right.

2278
02:30:46,134 --> 02:30:49,363
Then. Food for thought for my next conversation with my

2279
02:30:49,363 --> 02:30:54,244
colleague, Mayor Goodman. All right, anyone else on number ten?

2280
02:30:54,244 --> 02:30:59,975
The South Island Prosperity Partnership, 242. Remember again, we're voting

2281
02:30:59,975 --> 02:31:02,175
to return it to the budget, so if you wish

2282
02:31:02,175 --> 02:31:04,935
to have it back in, vote yes. And if you

2283
02:31:04,935 --> 02:31:07,615
wish it to be removed, vote no. All those in

2284
02:31:07,615 --> 02:31:13,373
favor. Is anyone opposed? Councilor Hammond is opposed. So with

2285
02:31:13,373 --> 02:31:16,573
noting with one opposed, that is returned. So. That's a

2286
02:31:16,573 --> 02:31:19,093
carried. And we have two more. Let's see if we

2287
02:31:19,093 --> 02:31:22,253
can go. Through these before we break the new traffic

2288
02:31:22,253 --> 02:31:26,062
signals. Who brought this one new traffic to Council Gardner.

2289
02:31:26,062 --> 02:31:29,022
Yes, speak to that one. Councilor Gritter. Thank you. I

2290
02:31:29,022 --> 02:31:32,662
think the answer came when we did the crosswalk installation.

2291
02:31:32,662 --> 02:31:37,286
It's probably the same answer. That's fine. Let's ask either

2292
02:31:37,286 --> 02:31:39,526
Mr. Doyle and Mr. Kenny. Is it approximately the same

2293
02:31:39,526 --> 02:31:43,424
answer. Through the mayor. So for the new traffic signal

2294
02:31:43,424 --> 02:31:45,704
program, you'll see in appendix B that there was actually

2295
02:31:45,704 --> 02:31:48,784
further reductions so that this would be the only budget

2296
02:31:48,784 --> 02:31:51,144
amount. And the idea was that we were deferring a

2297
02:31:51,144 --> 02:31:55,104
traffic signal until 2027 to align with another project, see?

2298
02:31:55,104 --> 02:31:57,864
Okay. All right, so this means no new traffic signals

2299
02:31:57,864 --> 02:32:02,862
in 26. Just to be clear. Right. Councilor Thompson, just

2300
02:32:02,862 --> 02:32:06,382
a question. Do some of the multimodal projects include traffic

2301
02:32:06,382 --> 02:32:12,641
signals? Mr. Kenny. Through the mayor. So the multimodal program

2302
02:32:12,641 --> 02:32:18,744
typically covers. Modifications to signals and sometimes new traffic signals

2303
02:32:18,744 --> 02:32:20,504
as part of that program. I don't believe we have

2304
02:32:20,504 --> 02:32:25,414
any planned in 2026 from that funding. So we're not

2305
02:32:25,414 --> 02:32:31,730
losing anything already planned. Anybody else? This one. So again,

2306
02:32:31,730 --> 02:32:35,010
it sounds as if this is anticipated and able to

2307
02:32:35,010 --> 02:32:41,578
be accommodated. All those in favor of returning this to

2308
02:32:41,578 --> 02:32:45,138
the budget, vote yes. Or in the alternative, based upon

2309
02:32:45,138 --> 02:32:47,618
Mr. Kenny's commentary if we do not return it to

2310
02:32:47,618 --> 02:32:51,629
the budget vote. No, all those in favor. All those

2311
02:32:51,629 --> 02:32:55,240
in opposition. That is unanimous. So this one can come

2312
02:32:55,240 --> 02:32:59,372
out. Thank you again. And then the last one in

2313
02:32:59,372 --> 02:33:03,492
appendix A are the hanging baskets. Who pulled this one?

2314
02:33:03,492 --> 02:33:07,212
Council I pulled it because it is in the public

2315
02:33:07,212 --> 02:33:10,732
realm and we've already heard back about it. Somewhat. So

2316
02:33:10,732 --> 02:33:13,212
I was just wondering if staff could. Hopefully, if they

2317
02:33:13,212 --> 02:33:17,092
have a map, they can tell. Us where the baskets

2318
02:33:17,092 --> 02:33:20,320
would continue to hang and. Which would not. If this

2319
02:33:20,320 --> 02:33:23,040
proceeds? Because that wasn't clear in the write up. You

2320
02:33:23,040 --> 02:33:27,440
know that, Mr. Newman. Where would we have baskets remaining

2321
02:33:27,440 --> 02:33:31,723
if we take out 130,000? Through your mayor. I have

2322
02:33:31,723 --> 02:33:34,883
shared a map with the deputy city clerk. Great. She

2323
02:33:34,883 --> 02:33:38,283
may pull that. Up might help guide the conversation. Perfect.

2324
02:33:44,813 --> 02:33:47,493
While we're pulling that up, I'd be happy to give

2325
02:33:47,493 --> 02:33:53,148
a little additional information. On this. Annually, the city provides

2326
02:33:53,148 --> 02:33:57,108
1200 hanging baskets in the downtown core. In the summertime.

2327
02:33:57,108 --> 02:34:01,928
It's part of our beautification project. To support tourism in

2328
02:34:01,928 --> 02:34:07,807
the core. The map before you, council. Is the current

2329
02:34:07,807 --> 02:34:11,527
locations of all of the baskets. The different numberings represent.

2330
02:34:13,228 --> 02:34:15,948
The different types of baskets that we hang across the

2331
02:34:15,948 --> 02:34:22,379
city. Annually. The program currently costs us $260,000 a year

2332
02:34:22,379 --> 02:34:27,179
and we currently install 1200 hanging baskets. The proposed reduction

2333
02:34:27,179 --> 02:34:30,059
to this program would see a 50% reduction in the

2334
02:34:30,059 --> 02:34:34,835
total number of baskets provided, which. Is estimated to be

2335
02:34:34,835 --> 02:34:38,593
600 baskets that we would install. And we would collaborate

2336
02:34:38,593 --> 02:34:43,793
with DVBA as partners in identifying and prioritizing the areas

2337
02:34:43,793 --> 02:34:48,513
downtown within the red circle on this image. To ensure

2338
02:34:48,513 --> 02:34:52,708
that. We're prioritizing the highest impact areas in the core.

2339
02:34:52,708 --> 02:34:55,788
Everything outside of the red. Circle would be deprioritized, and

2340
02:34:55,788 --> 02:34:58,628
then we would focus the remaining funds to ensure that

2341
02:34:58,628 --> 02:35:03,364
we're having the highest impact possible. Council gardner. Does that

2342
02:35:03,364 --> 02:35:08,170
answer your question? Yes. But I hope the public sees

2343
02:35:08,170 --> 02:35:10,370
them out, because I think it's important to get that.

2344
02:35:10,370 --> 02:35:14,250
Information across. Thank you. Thank you for that. That does

2345
02:35:14,250 --> 02:35:17,810
actually lead to a procedural question. Both the presentation earlier

2346
02:35:17,810 --> 02:35:20,890
today, which was excellent. And things like this. Will they

2347
02:35:20,890 --> 02:35:25,919
be on. The websites as attached to this particular item

2348
02:35:25,919 --> 02:35:32,667
on the agenda retrospectively. We don't normally republish items like

2349
02:35:32,667 --> 02:35:36,147
this, such as this, but the presentation will be. Yes.

2350
02:35:36,147 --> 02:35:40,107
Okay. If council specifically wants us to republish any individual

2351
02:35:40,107 --> 02:35:42,467
items such as this, we certainly would do so. A

2352
02:35:42,467 --> 02:35:45,867
council's direction. I would note, though, that this has now.

2353
02:35:49,868 --> 02:35:52,548
Become captured in the live feed. And so, for someone

2354
02:35:52,548 --> 02:35:54,828
who after tomorrow, wishes to go and view this part.

2355
02:35:56,552 --> 02:36:00,312
Add exactly three minutes and 42 42 in the afternoon.

2356
02:36:00,312 --> 02:36:02,312
They'll be able to see that. Image. There you go.

2357
02:36:02,312 --> 02:36:05,192
We can perhaps encourage people to do that. Councilor Gregor,

2358
02:36:05,192 --> 02:36:08,232
anything further on? This one? No. So again, thank you

2359
02:36:08,232 --> 02:36:09,592
very much. If you can take that one off the

2360
02:36:09,592 --> 02:36:14,239
screen. Anyone else on hanging baskets? Councilor Thompson. Just a

2361
02:36:14,239 --> 02:36:19,217
question. We've increased the spending on beautification of downtown through

2362
02:36:19,217 --> 02:36:24,368
the art downtown program. Just wondering. How our downtown budget

2363
02:36:24,368 --> 02:36:29,079
compares to this budget, just in scale. Ms. Moore or

2364
02:36:29,079 --> 02:36:33,575
Ms. Thompson. Through you, mayor. The our downtown budget is

2365
02:36:33,575 --> 02:36:37,655
just shy of a million dollars. I believe it's. 984,000

2366
02:36:37,655 --> 02:36:46,597
ish dollars. Sorry. Does that answer your question? Okay.

2367
02:36:48,237 --> 02:36:52,931
Can you remind me? I don't believe yet. In appendix

2368
02:36:52,931 --> 02:36:55,491
b there's any indication of altering that, is there? Is

2369
02:36:55,491 --> 02:36:59,101
it coming forward? The same amount. Through the may. Yes.

2370
02:36:59,101 --> 02:37:04,141
So the next appendix. So the ideas for removal includes

2371
02:37:04,141 --> 02:37:08,101
our downtown program in its entirety. Yes. Very good. Thank

2372
02:37:08,101 --> 02:37:10,781
you. Good to know. Still to be determined. Let's be.

2373
02:37:10,781 --> 02:37:13,461
Clear. And that's our next phase, so that's yet to

2374
02:37:13,461 --> 02:37:16,581
be discussed at council. That being said, anyone else on

2375
02:37:16,581 --> 02:37:21,502
the hanging baskets? Again, this is suggesting that. This item

2376
02:37:21,502 --> 02:37:26,857
be returned into the budget, Councilor Coleman. This budgetary reduction

2377
02:37:26,857 --> 02:37:34,166
comes up about every seven years. It is interesting that

2378
02:37:34,166 --> 02:37:37,606
we have a number of hanging baskets in the city

2379
02:37:37,606 --> 02:37:43,726
of Morioca because many years ago. They sent over about

2380
02:37:43,726 --> 02:37:46,686
a six week period. I think it was more than

2381
02:37:46,686 --> 02:37:51,126
250 gardeners to come and train with our park staff

2382
02:37:51,126 --> 02:37:55,797
into what the hanging basket program actually looks like. I

2383
02:37:55,797 --> 02:37:58,997
do work in the summer, occasionally as a tour guide.

2384
02:38:01,080 --> 02:38:05,281
And you always point out the hanging baskets because. They're

2385
02:38:05,281 --> 02:38:14,198
on. Our. Five bulb. Street lights, which. Are protected.

2386
02:38:16,371 --> 02:38:20,332
They're copyrighted to the city of Victoria. And once people

2387
02:38:20,332 --> 02:38:22,372
look at it, they start taking pictures, and then they

2388
02:38:22,372 --> 02:38:27,688
ask if. There's information and you send them online. This

2389
02:38:27,688 --> 02:38:31,008
is one of those ones that makes absolutely no sense

2390
02:38:31,008 --> 02:38:34,968
to invest in until you start taking it away, and

2391
02:38:34,968 --> 02:38:37,168
then you will find a whole bunch of people who

2392
02:38:37,168 --> 02:38:40,448
are going, why are you diminishing this one? I understand.

2393
02:38:42,028 --> 02:38:44,148
The need to pair the budget back, believe me. And

2394
02:38:44,148 --> 02:38:49,334
it's always painful, but. This is one of those wonderful,

2395
02:38:49,334 --> 02:38:53,214
iconic little pieces that people will come to the defense

2396
02:38:53,214 --> 02:38:56,774
off. I don't think I support ticking. I support putting

2397
02:38:56,774 --> 02:39:00,825
this back in. Ms. Thompson, as we've asked earlier on

2398
02:39:00,825 --> 02:39:05,595
a few things. What is the value of this as

2399
02:39:05,595 --> 02:39:10,952
a percentage of a tax increase? Through your marrow, it's

2400
02:39:10,952 --> 02:39:17,565
0.7. Percent. Okay. Thank you for that. Can I also

2401
02:39:17,565 --> 02:39:20,765
ask you at this point, given our decisions to date.

2402
02:39:20,765 --> 02:39:23,805
What have we added as a percentage of a tax

2403
02:39:23,805 --> 02:39:29,789
rate? You have added back zero point 55%. Very good.

2404
02:39:29,789 --> 02:39:35,973
Thank you for that. Any other comments on this, councilor

2405
02:39:35,973 --> 02:39:40,916
carried on. I'm going to support reducing the hanging baskets

2406
02:39:40,916 --> 02:39:43,956
budget, but it's not an easy decision to make because

2407
02:39:43,956 --> 02:39:46,436
it is so iconic of the city. And as my

2408
02:39:46,436 --> 02:39:49,996
colleague said, even our sister city in Morioca has adopted

2409
02:39:49,996 --> 02:39:53,714
this practice. What I want to comment on is something

2410
02:39:53,714 --> 02:39:56,874
that kind of grinds my gears, which is when we

2411
02:39:56,874 --> 02:39:59,754
have these kind of debates around taxes and budgets at

2412
02:39:59,754 --> 02:40:02,434
any level of government, and when there's always this debate

2413
02:40:02,434 --> 02:40:08,466
between nice to have. And a need to have or

2414
02:40:08,466 --> 02:40:11,266
a necessity versus a nice to have those kind of

2415
02:40:11,266 --> 02:40:14,666
debates often really bother me, to be honest, because what

2416
02:40:14,666 --> 02:40:17,746
one person perceives is a necessity might be something that

2417
02:40:17,746 --> 02:40:19,786
someone else perceives as a nice to have and vice

2418
02:40:19,786 --> 02:40:23,306
versa. And the bike valley or youth bus passes are

2419
02:40:23,306 --> 02:40:25,506
good examples. If you don't have a 13 or 14

2420
02:40:25,506 --> 02:40:27,793
year old they might seem like a luxury. But if

2421
02:40:27,793 --> 02:40:30,713
you're in a financially constrained household, they're essential. Same thing

2422
02:40:30,713 --> 02:40:32,513
with hanging. Baskets. I'm sure there's a lot of people

2423
02:40:32,513 --> 02:40:34,553
that will say, okay, that's. A nice to have, but

2424
02:40:34,553 --> 02:40:36,953
it's also iconic to our city. It adorns our city.

2425
02:40:39,458 --> 02:40:41,458
We're the garden city, so none of these decisions are

2426
02:40:41,458 --> 02:40:44,298
easy to make, and I do. Acknowledge that for many

2427
02:40:44,298 --> 02:40:47,858
people this is a necessity. But I do think that

2428
02:40:47,858 --> 02:40:50,138
we have to make these difficult decisions to scale back

2429
02:40:50,138 --> 02:40:52,378
a bit, but I hope that we can all recognize

2430
02:40:52,378 --> 02:40:54,218
that there's value in every single thing that's up on

2431
02:40:54,218 --> 02:40:56,258
the screen here. And in addition, everything else in our

2432
02:40:56,258 --> 02:41:00,501
budget and something that might to. You be a luxury

2433
02:41:00,501 --> 02:41:02,341
is to someone else a necessity. So I think it's

2434
02:41:02,341 --> 02:41:05,268
always important. For us to keep that in mind. Thank

2435
02:41:05,268 --> 02:41:13,930
you, Councilor Gardner. And then Dell. That's okay. Can we

2436
02:41:13,930 --> 02:41:16,794
have the map back up, please? Because there is something

2437
02:41:16,794 --> 02:41:20,518
that does concern me about it. Can you step map

2438
02:41:20,518 --> 02:41:26,981
back up? Thank you. What's happening is. There's something. Bothering

2439
02:41:26,981 --> 02:41:30,687
me for years. Is that the baskets don't actually go.

2440
02:41:32,455 --> 02:41:34,415
Get my street straight. They don't even go to Beacon

2441
02:41:34,415 --> 02:41:41,625
Hill Park. That's kind of always bothered me. I thought,

2442
02:41:41,625 --> 02:41:43,785
if we're going to tie this, in that little bit.

2443
02:41:43,785 --> 02:41:45,225
I tried years ago to get it, and we couldn't

2444
02:41:45,225 --> 02:41:48,265
get it. Just those few dusks. Just like two or

2445
02:41:48,265 --> 02:41:51,745
three. But what's worm me right now? Is, frankly, the

2446
02:41:51,745 --> 02:41:55,718
area is being cut off. May not be the tourist

2447
02:41:55,718 --> 02:41:57,718
area, but it's the area that we're going to have

2448
02:41:57,718 --> 02:42:00,398
a lot of development in people living in very soon.

2449
02:42:02,116 --> 02:42:05,138
We hope very soon. We're an awful lot of. Our

2450
02:42:05,138 --> 02:42:10,449
development is occurring. Is just to the east of that

2451
02:42:10,449 --> 02:42:14,568
red line, I believe, does it not? And so, in

2452
02:42:14,568 --> 02:42:17,888
a way, what this will do, the basket will separate

2453
02:42:17,888 --> 02:42:23,384
it more. That area of town. From that part of

2454
02:42:23,384 --> 02:42:25,904
the residential. I don't know if that's good or bad.

2455
02:42:25,904 --> 02:42:29,255
But I'm saying it will do that. And that is

2456
02:42:29,255 --> 02:42:32,135
kind of worrisome and as I said, doesn't even join

2457
02:42:32,135 --> 02:42:34,095
a Beacon hill park. And that's been going on for

2458
02:42:34,095 --> 02:42:39,822
20 years. That's not new. I just don't know. This

2459
02:42:39,822 --> 02:42:42,890
is a tough one because of what it represents. Don't

2460
02:42:42,890 --> 02:42:45,290
even know how I'm going to vote on this one.

2461
02:42:45,290 --> 02:42:51,866
Thank you, councilor. Dell. One of the challenges we have

2462
02:42:51,866 --> 02:42:54,066
here is we're making decisions on what to cut or

2463
02:42:54,066 --> 02:42:56,866
add in, but there's a whole bunch of other decisions

2464
02:42:56,866 --> 02:42:59,066
down the road that might impact us on our next

2465
02:42:59,066 --> 02:43:01,266
budget date. So if we make some very serious cuts

2466
02:43:01,266 --> 02:43:04,786
later on, obviously, including to the police budget, which is

2467
02:43:04,786 --> 02:43:07,426
astronomical compared to this. We might want to revisit some

2468
02:43:07,426 --> 02:43:09,306
of these. So for right now, I am going to

2469
02:43:09,306 --> 02:43:11,697
vote to cut the hang of. Assets. But I think

2470
02:43:11,697 --> 02:43:14,137
if we do make some other cuts and up days,

2471
02:43:14,137 --> 02:43:16,257
this is one that I'd be worth revisiting. So say

2472
02:43:16,257 --> 02:43:18,497
we get the number down to something. The tax number

2473
02:43:18,497 --> 02:43:22,371
down to something that. I think residents can handle. And

2474
02:43:22,371 --> 02:43:23,891
we have a bit of wiggle room to put a

2475
02:43:23,891 --> 02:43:25,891
couple of things back in for me. This is probably

2476
02:43:25,891 --> 02:43:28,891
where I'd look to maybe put this. Back. Maybe not

2477
02:43:28,891 --> 02:43:30,891
put the whole 130 back in, but put half of

2478
02:43:30,891 --> 02:43:33,251
that back in, so 65,000. So the budget is going

2479
02:43:33,251 --> 02:43:37,091
to be around 195 rather than 130. But for today,

2480
02:43:37,091 --> 02:43:39,371
I will vote to support this, but knowing that maybe

2481
02:43:39,371 --> 02:43:41,012
if people are interested, we can come back. To this

2482
02:43:41,012 --> 02:43:42,732
later on and perhaps bump this up a little bit.

2483
02:43:44,559 --> 02:43:46,599
Just on that note, thank you for that. You're right.

2484
02:43:48,130 --> 02:43:51,370
We have constructed this conversation in a way which assists

2485
02:43:51,370 --> 02:43:57,124
staff in being directed based on. Previous conversations. And so

2486
02:43:57,124 --> 02:43:59,924
that's why it's constructed in this fashion. But when we

2487
02:43:59,924 --> 02:44:02,684
get towards the end, we will have an opportunity to

2488
02:44:02,684 --> 02:44:04,564
have a look at all of this to see whether

2489
02:44:04,564 --> 02:44:07,364
anything needs to be rejigged or removed or transferred or

2490
02:44:07,364 --> 02:44:09,964
whatever boards you want to use. That is why we're

2491
02:44:09,964 --> 02:44:11,684
going to take the time that we will in order

2492
02:44:11,684 --> 02:44:14,284
to see this totality. So we're looking at four chunks,

2493
02:44:14,284 --> 02:44:16,884
as I described earlier, but we will at that point

2494
02:44:16,884 --> 02:44:20,493
be able. To look at the whole. And so. If

2495
02:44:20,493 --> 02:44:23,253
we are to place that we think is actually somewhat

2496
02:44:23,253 --> 02:44:25,893
good, we could come back and revisit any of these

2497
02:44:25,893 --> 02:44:31,247
things. Anybody else on this one, Councilor Lo? Thanks to

2498
02:44:31,247 --> 02:44:33,767
you, mayor. I just want to echo what was just

2499
02:44:33,767 --> 02:44:35,647
mentioned, because that's what was going through my mind is

2500
02:44:35,647 --> 02:44:39,401
maybe we cut it now, but then. We look at?

2501
02:44:41,081 --> 02:44:44,201
The new council could look at putting it back in

2502
02:44:44,201 --> 02:44:47,361
for future years, too, that this would just be something

2503
02:44:47,361 --> 02:44:50,161
that's happening for 2026. So I just wanted to note

2504
02:44:50,161 --> 02:44:52,601
that. Thank you. Very much. Anybody else for this one?

2505
02:44:54,416 --> 02:44:56,936
I'm going to vote to return this to the budget,

2506
02:44:56,936 --> 02:44:59,936
and I actually think that one of the reasons based

2507
02:44:59,936 --> 02:45:05,323
on many of their comments. Is the numbers that Ms.

2508
02:45:05,323 --> 02:45:08,003
Thompson shared with us. I think as we've looked at

2509
02:45:08,003 --> 02:45:11,603
some other things. It's bigger than those, but still relatively

2510
02:45:11,603 --> 02:45:15,862
small. But I think. We haven't talked at all about

2511
02:45:15,862 --> 02:45:19,222
the value of this from an economic development perspective, as

2512
02:45:19,222 --> 02:45:21,622
we have put almost a million dollars into the downtown

2513
02:45:21,622 --> 02:45:26,662
core around things that could be loosely defined. As beautification,

2514
02:45:26,662 --> 02:45:30,822
cleanliness, repair, maintenance, that sort of thing. I see this

2515
02:45:30,822 --> 02:45:34,379
as part of that. And so, while I grant that

2516
02:45:34,379 --> 02:45:37,219
there are still many, many difficult decisions ahead of us,

2517
02:45:39,016 --> 02:45:41,736
Even looking at the next appendix, which will begin the

2518
02:45:41,736 --> 02:45:43,976
next time we meet. I think there is room there

2519
02:45:43,976 --> 02:45:46,336
to accommodate this. And so I am actually going to

2520
02:45:46,336 --> 02:45:49,416
vote in favor of returning this. To the budget at

2521
02:45:49,416 --> 02:45:53,056
this time, knowing that it could be reconsidered in the

2522
02:45:53,056 --> 02:45:57,708
future. By either this or a future council. Anyone else

2523
02:45:57,708 --> 02:46:01,046
on this one? Okay, so again, if you wish to

2524
02:46:01,046 --> 02:46:03,726
return this to the budget, vote in favor. If you

2525
02:46:03,726 --> 02:46:05,486
wish. To cut it from the budget or have it

2526
02:46:05,486 --> 02:46:09,588
remained cut from the budget? Vote in opposition. In favor

2527
02:46:09,588 --> 02:46:13,007
of returning this to the budget. That would be myself

2528
02:46:13,007 --> 02:46:16,515
and councilor Coleman and councilor Gardner. In opposition. So to

2529
02:46:16,515 --> 02:46:20,973
leave it out, that would be Hammond, Lowton. My God.

2530
02:46:20,973 --> 02:46:24,893
David Thompson. Thank you, Councilor Kim. By councilor carried on,

2531
02:46:24,893 --> 02:46:28,640
Councilor Dell. So, in fact, that is in favor, and

2532
02:46:28,640 --> 02:46:33,160
that means it is going to. Be. Removed from the

2533
02:46:33,160 --> 02:46:36,600
budget. There you go. I did that backwards. But the

2534
02:46:36,600 --> 02:46:39,120
s as we returned removed. From the budget. Yeah, look

2535
02:46:39,120 --> 02:46:41,840
at that. It's five to four, almost. And so. Thank

2536
02:46:41,840 --> 02:46:45,280
you. Very much staff. Kudos to the staff, the support

2537
02:46:45,280 --> 02:46:48,400
staff who've been following along this very arcane conversation that

2538
02:46:48,400 --> 02:46:51,273
has been wandering all over the place. As much as

2539
02:46:51,273 --> 02:46:54,673
I've tried to make it linear in some ways, so

2540
02:46:54,673 --> 02:46:57,353
here we are. We've now done appendix A, we have

2541
02:46:57,353 --> 02:47:01,433
appendix B, we have a subsequent motions arising that are

2542
02:47:01,433 --> 02:47:04,873
neither. None of the appendices. We also have conversations and

2543
02:47:04,873 --> 02:47:07,833
questions that will arise out of appendix D and also

2544
02:47:07,833 --> 02:47:11,365
the possibility of future direction so much yet. To be

2545
02:47:11,365 --> 02:47:14,125
done. As I understand it, and I will look for

2546
02:47:14,125 --> 02:47:16,885
Ms. Thompson to confirm that this is correct. The next

2547
02:47:16,885 --> 02:47:21,076
time we meet will in fact be November 21. Is

2548
02:47:21,076 --> 02:47:24,756
that correct? Yes, that's correct. And at that time, we

2549
02:47:24,756 --> 02:47:27,476
will begin again where we've left off. So we'll start

2550
02:47:27,476 --> 02:47:31,956
with appendix B and follow a very similar process as

2551
02:47:31,956 --> 02:47:34,636
we discover what it is that we wish to include

2552
02:47:34,636 --> 02:47:37,596
and not and amend at that point. And so I'm

2553
02:47:37,596 --> 02:47:39,956
going to say that we have done what we can

2554
02:47:39,956 --> 02:47:42,356
at section D of our agenda. I'm just going. To

2555
02:47:42,356 --> 02:47:45,961
make sure nobody else has any. Final questions. Yee would

2556
02:47:45,961 --> 02:47:47,921
be notices of motion. I don't believe there are any

2557
02:47:47,921 --> 02:47:51,704
arising today. F would be a closed meeting, which we

2558
02:47:51,704 --> 02:47:53,664
do not have a purpose for today. And so I

2559
02:47:53,664 --> 02:47:56,584
will look with thanks to staff for your patience and

2560
02:47:56,584 --> 02:47:59,584
incredible work and to counsel for their ability. To be

2561
02:47:59,584 --> 02:48:01,824
collegial in these difficult decisions, I would look for a

2562
02:48:01,824 --> 02:48:05,744
motion to adjourn. Thank you, councilor Coleman. Seconded by councilor

2563
02:48:05,744 --> 02:48:09,264
Carrie, Donna. All those in favor? Anyone? Opposed. That is

2564
02:48:09,264 --> 02:48:12,235
unanimous. And. We will see one another next week.