Funding switch for community parks in new PRRD bylaw

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The regional district is changing how its community parks are funded due to uneven service distributions.

During the January 8th meeting, the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) gave a new parks bylaw its first three readings. 

The Community Parks Conversion Bylaw builds off the community parks service established in 1985 for Electoral Areas B and C. It was later amended to include Electoral Areas D and E in 1987. 

According to the PRRD’s web map, Electoral Area B covers the northern region of the district from Fort St. John to Fort Nelson to the Alberta border, Electoral Area C covers the area surrounding Fort St. John to the Peace River, Electoral Area D encircles the area south of the Peace River and Prince George and Electoral Area E is west of Dawson Creek from the Peace River. 

Currently, the only community parks operated by the PRRD are North Peace Park near Fort St. John in Electoral Area B and Iver Johnson Memorial Community Park in Electoral Area E near Chetwynd. 

The service gave the regional district the authority to acquire, develop, operate, maintain and regulate community parks, as well as requisition funding for these purposes. 

According to a staff report presented to the board, the bylaw addresses inequities caused by the original service on a “go-forward basis.”

“Currently costs are shared equally across all participating electoral areas, despite only [Electoral] Areas B and E receiving community park services,” the report stated. 

“The proposed conversion bylaw corrects this by establishing a fixed cost apportionment aligned with actual service delivery and budget, with costs for [Electoral] Area B parks paid for by [Electoral] Area B taxation revenue, and the same in [Electoral] Area E.”

This change means 85 per cent of the costs would come from Electoral Area B, and the remaining 15 per cent would be the responsibility of Electoral Area E. 

Due to not receiving any community park services, Electoral Areas D and C will not financially contribute to the service.