Public Input to the Budget Process – Brent Road

I was pleased to see residents from the Brent Road area of Central Okanagan West Electoral Area make a presentation to the Board on an old taxation issue that has negatively impacted their community. For those of you unfamiliar with Brent Road it is a waterfront community of 60+ homes four kilometers south of Peachland right on the southern border of RDCO.

When West Kelowna incorporated in 2008 they did a governance study to determine the boundaries, costs and implications of incorporation. Unfortunately for the electoral area the RDCO Director who had represented us ran for the Mayor of the new municipality (West Kelowna) and left the communities NOT incorporating without a voice. Some residents at that time stepped forward and spoke on behalf of the remaining communities within the Electoral Areas and failed us big time. They fought for NO governance study for what was going to be Central Okanagan West  by perpetuating the fear that we would be drawn into the West Kelowna incorporation when in fact the last thing West Kelowna needed or wanted was the extra road and policing cost we would bring to them with our inclusion.

The lack of a governance study for the areas not incorporating would have addressed many of the left over issues such as the tax requisition for the pool and seniors center that residents of Brent Road have had to pay when communities much closer such as Peachland do not contribute. Hopefully we can get this tax issue addressed in this first year of the new RDCO Board term with an acceptable settlement for the residents that have had to contribute to services they do not participate in nor benefit from.