When Oak Bay staff hired Opus International Consultants (Canada) to complete the 2016 Asset Management Report, the results were financially sobering.
The report estimates $250 million is needed to replace Oak Bay’s infrastructure, which is “in poor and fair condition and needs to be replaced as soon as possible.”
With this financial wake-up call, one questions why we are not utilizing what other municipalities do to raise money: development-cost charges.
Why is Oak Bay the only municipality in the Capital Regional District that does not collect development-cost charges? Charges are levied “to help cover the cost of expanding or improving transportation, water, sewer, storm drainage.” By charging developers for subdivisions and multi-family units, we could acquire a tidy sum of money immediately, to be put toward our costly infrastructure upgrades.
Recently, I asked a solicitor for a municipality in the Metro Vancouver whether it would be unusual for a municipality not to charge development cost charges. The solicitor’s reply was yes, unless the municipality had enough money in its reserve funds.
Our municipality has a reserve fund of only $20 million, but the majority of this is dedicated for other purposes (police, fire, legal).
I urge council to pass a motion to create a bylaw, so that we can start charging, as every other well-run municipality does. Council must act on this right away, for without addressing the problem, council is abrogating their responsibility.
Rachel McDonnell
Oak Bay
