The City of Rossland is using an online budget tool to solicit feedback from Rossland taxpayers on this year’s budget and at Monday night’s council meeting one resident offered some constructive criticism regarding the way the tool was shared with the public.
Janice Nightingale, a Rossland resident who regularly participates in the city’s public budgeting process, shared her opinions with council during the meeting’s public input.
She shared what she felt needed to be improved regarding this year’s budget tool — that the wording in the descriptive paragraphs of the budget sections were uneven in tone, that the budget numbers were not all presented in the same format and that the 2016 budget numbers used in the Recreation and Culture section fail “to capture a significant increase in user fee revenue generated by the increase in arena rental fees.”
Nightingale also suggested that in the future, the city should form a review committee to look at the tool and make suggestions before it is released publicly.
“Not to review the accuracy of the numbers, but to look for wording or presentation that might create confusion or bias in the end user’s perceptions of how their tax dollars are used, and the value that municipal spending creates,” she said.
The mayor thanked Nightingale for her input.
“As you know this is our first out of the gate with this and there’s always room for improvement,” said Mayor Kathy Moore. “And you’ve made some great points.”
Nightingale did stress that she thought it was a great tool.
To share your input on the budget, visit rossland.citizenbudget.com/#section-5-transportation-and-public-works.
Red Mountain Racers prepare to host two major events
The Red Mountain Racers will be hosting both the Canadian National Technical Championships for 2018 and the 2018 Canadian National Ski Cross Championships. Training will take place March 17 to 20 and racing March 21 to 26.
The occasion will also mark the 50th anniversary of the first World Cup Race ever held in North America, which was held at Red Mountain and was won by Rossland’s own Nancy Greene and France’s Jean Claude Killy.
Christine Andison and Brian Fry made a presentation to council on behalf of the Red Mountain Racers, asking for some assistance from the city.
The first request was to close either a section of Washington Street or Queen Street for the opening ceremonies on March 22. The event is expected to draw more than 1,000 people.
Andison also requested that the city provide the use of its stage, as well as city staff to set it up and take it down, free of charge as a contribution to the event.
And finally, she asked permission to have ski racing and event-specific streetlight banners installed during the entire month of March and assistance from city staff to install the banners.
At the end of the meeting, council decided to approve all of Andison’s requests and asked city staff to look after the details.
Council approves YAN application for CBT funds
Council approved the Rossland Youth Action Network’s (YAN) submission of an application to the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) for $25,000 to complete the renovation of the new YAN Space.
Upcoming public hearing on zoning amendment
Council considered an application to rezone 2160 Queen Street from multi-family residential to infill residential.
The applicant would like to subdivide the lot and construct three sustainable houses or units, varying in size from 1,500 square feet to 700 square feet of livable space with a storage room and a home office.
While the zoning amendment would potentially reduce density on the lot — which is counter to the Official Community Plan (OCP) — council heard that previous attempts to construct multi-family housing on the lot had been abandoned because they weren’t economically feasible.
The zoning amendment also gives the city the opportunity to negotiate a snow easement along the northern property line and a portion of the eastern and western property line with the applicant. A snow easement had not previously been negotiated on the property.
Council voted to move the application forward and a public hearing will be held on Monday, Feb. 26.