THE District of North Vancouver is in good financial shape, according to its 2012 audited financial statements.
The 2012 revenues, expenditures and transfers, overseen by the district's audit committee as well as an outside consulting firm, came up for discussion at an April 29 council meeting.
"They show the district to be in a healthy financial position. Fixed assets of half a billion dollars. . . . We've almost reached a position where we're putting enough money into capital allocations each year to replenish our fixed asset position. I think that is a really important status," said Coun Robin Hicks, who is also an audit committee member. "The reserves and investments are significantly healthy as well."
The district is passing a 2.5-per cent tax increase in 2013, including a one-per cent bump for infrastructure projects.
But the sound news belied a troubling trend in numbers put forward by Coun. Alan Nixon. After acknowledging that changes in accounting practices make direct comparisons almost impossible, Nixon noted the ballooning budgets, tax collection, employee expenditures and infrastructure spending the district has seen in the 11 years since he was elected.
Compared to a 17.8-per cent jump in the Vancouver consumer price index since 2002, the total 2012 expenses for the district of $145.7 million rose 47 per cent. The amount the district collected in property taxes rose by a similar percentage. At $7.28 million, spending on recreation services was up 48 per cent and the number of employees making more than $100,000 went from eight in 2002 to 62 in 2011.
Nixon then posed a number of rhetorical questions, encouraging council to evaluate whether the municipality was on the right track.
"Is my quality of life as a resident in the district 52 per cent better than it was in 2002?" he asked. "Are district residents 48 per cent healthier in 2012 than they were in 2002 as a result of that increased investment in recreation services?"
The point in "boring council with numbers" was to show that the district's taxing and spending was on an unsustainable trajectory that would have to be reined in.
"Over the coming years we are going to have to make some really tough decisions about how to dramatically control expenditures while maintaining a semblance of the quality of life we have come to cherish here in the district," he said.
The sentiment of fiscal prudence behind Nixon's comments was echoed by others on council, but the methodology didn't hold up without context, most argued.
Things not captured in the limited data available included things outside the district's control, like Canadian Union of Public Employees salaries negotiated by Metro Vancouver, the rising cost of the RCMP contract and increased downloading of services that should be under provincial or federal jurisdiction.
On the revenue side, the data didn't show how new development added to the district offsets the tax burden on the existing population or new sources of non-tax revenue. Taking those things into account, the district is actually quite competitive with its Lower Mainland neighbours, Mayor Richard Walton said.
The district has also forgone lots of revenue-generating activities that would fill the coffers because that's what council believed the community wanted, Coun. Mike Little said, including casinos, outdoor billboard advertising and the sale of land for development.
For Coun. Lisa Muri, the trend in numbers was a sign of too much government for too few people who live on North Shore, leading to a call for consolidation of municipalities.
"We have 28 councillors on the North Shore. We have five mayors. Our population is just under 200,000 we need to continue to have a conversation around consolidating our communities so our children are not going to be put in a position that Coun. Nixon and some of us foresee in the future," she said.
