Trustee Elliott finds $205K in savings in next Islands Trust budget

Hope Lompe

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

Gabriola Island’s Trustee Tobi Elliott put forward two motions to save $205,000 from the proposed 2026-2027 budget at the Islands Trust  Financial Planning Committee (FPC) meeting last Wednesday.

The FPC is responsible for annual budget and financial planning and includes the Islands Trust executive committee. The group is working to adopt the budget in March, with public engagement expected to begin in January.

The lion’s share of the savings came from Elliott’s motion to cut the $150,000 allocated for a Trust Area Resilience Assessment Initiative, for a consultant to conduct an assessment of the Trust’s work toward the strategic plan and fund First Nations partnerships on the project.

Islands Trust staff who recommended the initiative say the information is needed for land use planning, land protection and implementation of the policy statement, and Chair of the FPC, Sue Ellen Fast said this project is “core” to the work of the Trust.

However Susan Yates, also a Gabriola Island Trustee, spoke in support of cutting the project, saying the high ticket item is already reflected in their work as Trust Council.

“No matter how I read this resilience assessment, backwards, frontwards, sideways, everything it’s a mystery to me,” says Yates. What I see as our resilience is the direct work that we do … the work that the public sees is the work that makes a difference to our resilience as an organization.”

The motion was carried not to fund the resilience assessment unless funding could be obtained through a source like grant fund, and brought the tax increase for local trust areas down a percentage point to just over 10 per cent.

Also removed from this year’s budget is an improved document management system, at $55,000. Elliott put forward the motion to delay the updated records system to the next budget, despite admitting there is a need for improvement in this area.

“I have concerns about not advancing [the system], because it really does seem we’re falling behind in our legislative responsibilities for holding records and keeping them available and the security of those records,” Elliott said.

“I don’t necessarily think it should be deferred, I think it’s very important. But I think it’s a soft area that … could be deferred without harming our operations.”

Staff agreed this was an item that, while needed, could be deferred to the next budget and voted on by the new council to be elected next year, and the motion was carried.