Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 11 June 2013 06:00
A Vernon councillor wants the city to take another look at phasing out its subsidy to the O'Keefe Ranch. Mary Jo O'Keefe says the ranch is being put in jeopardy by the city's plan to start reducing its grant in 2016. "The ranch had put forward a heritage grant application, and the response was, that the grant supplier did not want to support them because they did not want to make an investment in a heritage location that wasn't being supported by some government group," says O'Keefe. City staff will meet with ranch officials and report back to council. However, councillor Bob Spiers doesn't think the issue should be revisited, saying the phase-out doesn't start for three years, which gives the ranch time to become more self sufficient. "We're going to get another staff report and use staff resources to address an issue that we've already decided upon," says Spiers. Councillor Patrick Nicol feels the grant should be phased out gently, over a longer period. "Unfortunately I don't think the business case is there. There's so many well intentioned volunteers. They've done phenomenal work, but so have the taxpayers when you consider all the money for the buildings and upgrades the taxpayers have provided." Under an agreement with the ranch, the city is only mandated to provide $10,000 a year. Council earlier decided to reduce the ranch's $150,000 annual grant, to $100,000 in 2016, then to $50,000 in 2017, and to $10,000 by 2018. The ranch is located in Spallumcheen, but is owned by the city of Vernon.
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