Raising Waste Collection Fees, Funding Opportunities and a 5 Year Contract

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - At their May 22 Board meeting, the Strathcona Regional Distrct (SRD) passed 3 important monetary decisions for Cortes Island. Firstly, the SRD will be increasing the annual fee for waste collection by $10 a year. This will be paid through our property taxes. Regional Director Mark Vonesch explained, “we're basically being forced to do this because Recycling BC changed their support for the solid waste collection fees so that we're having to make up that loss through increasing our fees, which we're going to be doing over the next couple of years.” Secondly, the Cortes Island Firefighters Association’s contract with the SRD expired more than a year ago. Since that time, the fire departent has been hired on a monthly basis. Now the SRD is once again offering a 5 year contract. SRD Chief Administrative Officer (CAO David Leitch) stated, “I just want to acknowledge the Cortes Island Firefighting Association and Sadhu Johnston for their participation and great patience. I think it's been a nice team-building exercise throughout but, as I understand it from Sadhu, the board has endorsed this contract, which is really great. This is a great step forward for both of us.” Mark Vonesch: “If I could add to that. It has been a year and a half and I'm just really grateful to staff, the Cortes Island Firefighters Association and this board for getting us here. This is a big win for Cortes. It's a big win for the SRD. It's a big win for Cortes Fire Department. I'm just really excited to get this five year deal passed. Now we can all move forward.” Lastly, the SRD is entering into an agreement with the Cortes Community Housing Society to provide up to $140,000 of the funding available through the Provincial Gas Tax on a road leading into Rainbow Ridge. We’ve actually been hearing about this project since November, but it was approved Wednesday. The Board passed all of these measures with no opposing votes.