By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - March 07, 2008
The prospect of expanding transit in the North Okanagan has hit a rocky road. The North Okanagan Regional District adopted its 2008 budget Wednesday and there is no new money for transit to Silver Star or the University of B.C. campus in Kelowna. Alan Harris, chief financial officer, said the items couldn’t be added to the budget because it’s unknown which communities will participate financially and what level of funding may come from B.C. Transit.
“When we know the final numbers, we can do a budget amendment.” Despite money not being in the budget, the discussion continued Wednesday and that frustrated some board members. “It’s totally absurd to be talking about being in a function when we don’t know the costs,” said Earl Shipmaker, Enderby director. But that brought a sharp retort from Juliette Cunningham, a Vernon director. “It’s irresponsible not to be doing everything possible to support transit,” she said of the need to get vehicles off the road, especially those heading to the UBC campus. “We have pressure on air quality and pressure on our roads.” Cunningham had hoped transit to UBC Okanagan could be in place by this fall.Some questions arose over providing bus service to Silver Star. “What’s the resort going to kick in or is this going to be funded by the taxpayers?” said Stan Field, BX-Silver Star director. “They will be the benefactors of this because they will be able to take their bus off the road for their employees.”Ultimately, no action was taken on expanding transit.“Let’s get the correct numbers and then everyone can have a discussion,” said Wayne Lippert, Vernon director, of NORD, B.C. Transit and Silver Star Mountain Resort.
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