The Islands Trust federation will receive $330,00 less in revenues for the fiscal year 2010/11 due to reductions in rezoning applications, interest on savings, and grants, Local Trust Committee (LTC) Chair Louise Bell reported at the January LTC meeting.

Bell said the Trust draft budget will ask for a property tax increase of 4.9 per cent. Local Trustee Sheila Malcolmson said that increase translated to an extra $13.50 in taxes on properties assessed at $450,000 – which she said is the average price of a house on the islands.

Bell said the upcoming budget “will continue to update Official Community Plans and Land Use Bylaws, but it minimizes new programs”. She said the exception will be a draft budget item to hire a Manager of Legislative Services. Such a position is needed, she said, to deal with a number of administrative legislative requirements that have been uncompleted for a number of years. These include filing of annual reports, standardisation of minute taking, review and compliance with legislative requirements, and efficient record keeping across the federation, she said.

Malcolmson also said that the Trust Council’s Financial Planning Committee agreed to increase Gabriola’s draft budget by $12,500 to do “hazard slope mapping, to confirm that our development permit areas are properly mapped and have identified the areas of risk”. She said if you have a home in one of those areas “you need to have a geotechnical survey done before you can remove any vegetation or build anything, so it’s important that we have the mapping”.