Derek Kilbourn
Sounder News
The Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District Board has approved a 2026 budget of $1,711,374.
This is an increase of 21.7% over the 2025 budget of $1,406,023, and comes one year after the Board approved a 37.5% increase.
The decision to approve the budget, and pass the bylaw to send it to the Inspector of Municipalities for approval came at the Board’s regular monthly meeting on October 1.
Operation costs for the department are projected to go up $272,205.
Part of this increase is that the budget for the 2026 election has been set at $10,000, up from $4,000 in previous years, as Trustees explore offering advance voting for the Board elections.
Truck costs are projected to increase by 33.33%, from $60,000 to $80,000.
Wages are also driving the increase, with wages and benefits going up 29.18%, from $540,983 in 2025 to $698,824.
The Duty Officer budget has gone from $123,790 in 2024, $175,000 in 2025, to a proposed $200,000 in 2026.
A proposal had been heard over the past year to create an Assistant Fire Chief position to eliminate much of the overtime being accrued by the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief, as well as reduce the number of hours being worked by the Duty Officers.
Moving to an Assistant Fire Chief was estimated to save $40,000 within the Wages section of the budget.
During the discussion around the position, Trustees continued to disagree on the need for the an Assistant Fire Chief.
One of the sticking points was that in 2025, the Department started paying Duty Officers at minimum wage for all the hours they are on shift.
Previously, Duty Officers had been paid an on-call wage. Fire Chief Will Sprogis said that had been $4 an hour roughly 15 years ago, which was bumped to $6 an hour in 2015, and $12 an hour in 2019.
Board Chair Wayne Mercier brought up that there is no record of the Board ever approving that.
Trustees Moeller, Moher, and Johnson were on the Board last year, and stated that regardless of what the record shows, the decision to start paying minimum wage to the Duty Officer had been made.
Mercier reiterated that there are no minutes showing that this happened.
The budget and subsequent borrowing bylaw have to be sent by the end of the month to the Inspector of Municipalities.
Acknowledging that the Board have voted to pass the budget and bylaw on Oct. 1, Mercier said, “when we enact that bylaw, we are taking money from our friends and neighbors as trustees. It’s our job to make sure the Improvement District can fulfill its purposes indefinitely.
“That’s the job, and in my opinion, this budget misses that mark. I’ve been the chair of the board for three months or so, and I have got limited information about how we manage the money we take in. All the information we have about how money has been spent in 2025 is a single Cash Flow Statement covering the first half of the year and a similar statement for the month of July.
“At beginning of July, we received $1.4 million if history is any indication, most of that money – capital reserve aside – will be spent by some time in May.”
Mercier said he has concerns about personnel and staffing.
“I’m concerned about the potential for the assistant chief position, because no description or scope of work has been presented for that position, and the only justification provided is a reduction in duty officer costs as a result of increased salary cover.”
He pointed out that the duty officer position is on call, and not a job that’s stationed at the hall, and that duty officer costs have increased substantially due to the increase in on-call wages.
But – he reiterated – there is no record of when that decision was made, “why or by whom, is not reflected in the minutes or the in camera minutes such as they are….
“I’m not saying that rate of pay is not warranted. It is, though, a substantial unapproved change in costs, which we are now being asked to accept and normalize without question.”
He pointed to a number of items that the Fire Department has taken on as functions which are outside of the scope of the District’s bylaws.
The contract with Save Our Shores to pay the department to utilize the old Fire Hall and burn building could, as Mercier pointed out, “have substantial implications for the revenue of the fire department.
“The suggestion that revenue from it be allocated to capital funds, is my favorite part of this budget,
“I don’t know how my colleagues here feel about taxation. I take it pretty seriously. We’re taking this money from our friends and neighbors. To me, that’s the same as if we go door to door to every house and business on the island and make demands, whatever it is, pay up, fork it over. We’re taking it.
“These people deserve better for their money than to have it go into a black box and then be told to rest assured when they have questions. So I think the way that this budget addresses staffing is short sighted and based on a state of affairs that needs to be accounted for and explained if it’s going to be funded.”
Comments about the budget had included that there were unknowns in place as the District continues to work out what operations will look like with the Gabriola firefighters having unionized.
Mercier said, “I think the assumptions [the budget] makes about the union and how it will work, and who will be in it are flawed and poorly articulated.
“I think the assumptions it makes about staffing, structure, generally, the real costs of correct administration and the means of the improvement district are unproductive and disrespectful to the taxpayers.
“Our job is to make sure the improvement district can fulfill its purposes indefinitely, and I don’t believe that this budget does.”
The adoption of a budget for ‘status quo’ in the staffing model does not preclude the Board from later deciding to approve a third Fire Chief position, as the budget for status quo was higher, leaving room in the budget for if the Board made a staffing change at a later time.
Trustee David Chorneyko made a bid again to have $50,000 put into the 2026 Levy and budget for HR purposes, but was defeated by a motion from the Board.
On the budget itself, Trustees Moher, Moeller, Johnson, and Chorneyko voted to approve the 2026 budget.
Trustees Mercier, Bussler, and Appell voted against it.
The budget and levy will now head to the Inspector of Municipalities to consider for approval.
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