Lone Abbotsford councillor says leaving regional district would have hidden costs

Kent Spencer, The Province January 26, 2011
 Abbotsford Coun. Patricia Ross, who is also chair of the Fraser Valley Regional District, says she knows several reasons why Abbotsford’s bid to leave the regional district is a bad idea.  Ross says Abbotsford has recently experienced the pitfalls of removing core services from regional district control.  In 2005, Abbotsford and Mission separated their water and sewer works from the region under a new commission in which they were the only members.  “We were told that leaving the FVRD would save money, but costs went up substantially. We didn’t realize the promised savings,” Ross said Wednesday. “I believe it would cost Abbotsford more money to separate.” Abbotsford council voted 8-1 Monday to begin the process of obtaining provincial approval to leave the regional district, saying taxpayers would save $1.4 million in general government service costs. Ross was the lone dissenter. After Abbotsford found it needed “substantial staff increases” to cope with the added workload at the water commission, Ross said council received a shock when it applied for infrastructure funding from senior governments for a $200 million upgrade to the city’s water supply. Council was told its application did not qualify, because the city was no longer a member of a regional district. She said the grants are only given to regional districts. “To ease the burden on our taxpayers, we need federal funding for that project,” she said.

Stressing her comments are those of an Abbotsford councillor rather than district chair, she said not all the costs of leaving would be financial, but there would be a political price as well for a stand-alone, single-tier municipal government.  Ross said Abbotsford would find itself sandwiched between two large regional districts, Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, without a regional voice of its own.
“Lobbying power with senior governments would be reduced. It’s always better to be part of a bigger voice,” she said. She said Abbotsford would be charged “customer” fees for regional services it plans to retain, rather than cheaper fees charged to “member” municipalities.  “The fees would be out of our control,” she said.  At a regional district meeting on Tuesday with Abbotsford reps, the Fraser Valley board asked staff to prepare a response to Abbotsford’s request and produce a core services review with an aim at reducing the city’s costs.