Area B, explained
Our services.
Our money.
What comes next.
Accountability starts with being able to follow the decisions. Here is a plain-language look at what Area B’s services do, how our money is used and what the years ahead could cost. The sources and assumptions are here for you to check.
The four-year picture
A flat year follows
a higher starting level.
In 2023, Area B’s share of SRD property taxes was about $1.16 million. The 2026 budget puts it at $1.33 million. That is a 14.6% increase from the first full year of this term.
The 2026 total is almost unchanged from 2025. The published average-home tax estimate falls by $34.06, to $1,502.12 a year. Those are useful comparisons. They do not, on their own, tell us whether the services are fully funded for the years ahead.
The starting point matters. With 2022 shown as our baseline, the increase to the 2026 budget is 45.0%. The largest annual jump came in 2023, with fire protection accounting for about 71% of that year’s increase.
2023 financial plan, PDF p. 114 ↗2024 financial plan, PDF p. 126 ↗2025 financial plan, PDF p. 148 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 152 ↗
| Year | Area B total | Per average home Annual estimate |
|---|---|---|
| 2022Baseline | $916,003 | $1,054.62 |
| 2023Actual | $1,158,642 | $1,378.72 |
| 2024Actual | $1,247,900 | $1,470.85 |
| 2025Actual | $1,329,386 | $1,536.18 |
| 2026Budget | $1,327,830 | $1,502.12 |
Area B tax total
2022 to the 2026 budget
Per average home, per year
+42.4% in the published estimates
2022 is the starting comparison. Area totals are actual requisitions through 2025 and budget for 2026. Every household figure is an SRD estimate. Bars show the Area B total.
The average home and participating properties can change from year to year. This is not the bill for the same house over time. Collection fees and other authorities’ taxes are excluded here.
Start with the services
Think of separate
labelled envelopes.
Area B is part of a regional district. It has a collection of service budgets, each with a purpose and rules about who pays. Some services are local. Others are shared across the region. Money set aside for a restricted purpose cannot simply be moved wherever we would like.
How regional districts work ↗Who collects rural property taxes ↗
Close to home.
Fire protection. First medical response. Parks, trails and halls. Garbage collection and disposal. Support for community activities.
Part of a region.
Know who to ask.
Road maintenance rests with the Province and its contractor. Ferry operations rest with BC Ferries. Schools and health care have their own authorities.
The Province collects rural property taxes. Your notice includes charges beyond the SRD, and different properties may participate in different services. Your own assessment and service boundaries matter.
Services also receive fees, grants and money carried forward from earlier years. That is why the tax total is only part of the financial picture.
Who collects rural property taxes ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 152 ↗
What the taxes support
A useful question:
what does this pay for?
Fire protection is the largest single line in the 2026 tax budget. Administration is the next largest when the general and electoral area contributions are combined. Parks, halls, the library and planning are also substantial parts of the total.
A regional contribution does not mean that every dollar is spent on the island. It pays for Area B’s participation in that service. The useful test is whether we understand the cost, the benefit and the way our share is calculated.
When a cost changes its address
The SRD changed how it shares administration costs between services. A cost can move from one budget line to another without the work changing. Before calling a decrease a saving, or an increase extra bureaucracy, we need to follow the cost through the whole budget.
2025 financial plan, PDF p. 113 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 76 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 117 ↗
| Service | Area B total | Per average home Annual estimate |
|---|---|---|
Fire protectionLocal fire protection, with its own service boundary and budget. | $404,600 | $541.23 |
AdministrationArea B’s share of general and electoral area administration. The household estimate combines $243.64 and $50.18. | $282,368 | $293.82 |
Parks and trailsThe local parks service, including maintenance and project work. | $146,801 | $152.76 |
Community hallsSupport for the community associations providing our halls. | $109,795 | $114.25 |
Regional libraryParticipation in the Vancouver Island Regional Library system. | $106,330 | $110.64 |
Planning and bylawsArea B’s contribution to land-use planning and bylaw services. | $85,913 | $89.40 |
Other servicesWaste disposal, first medical response, grants in aid, emergency coordination, 911 and smaller local and regional contributions. Includes the net effect of the two liquid-waste entries and published rounding, including one cent to reconcile the average-home total. | $192,023 | $200.02 |
| Total SRD tax | $1,327,830 | $1,502.12 |
Annual property-tax contributions. Collection fees are separate. Select a service name to read what it covers. The average-home figures are the SRD’s published service estimates; service areas can use different residential averages.
2026 tax totals, PDF p. 152 ↗Average-home estimates, PDF p. 153 ↗
What comes next · 2026–2027
2026 to 2027.
What changes?
Mark Vonesch’s budget choices
Mark Vonesch helped shape the 2026–2030 financial plan as Area B’s director. At the December 11 budget meeting, he requested reduced fire and hall reserve transfers for 2026 and a $30,000 grants-in-aid tax requirement. The final plan was adopted by the SRD Board. It includes local choices and shared regional costs.
December 11, 2025 budget meeting record ↗February 25, 2026 Board adoption, SRD 143/26 ↗
I want residents to see beyond this year’s bill. If today’s tax shares stay the same, the plan implies about $1,866 in annual SRD taxes for the average-home example in 2027. That is about $364 more than 2026.
These are calculations from the adopted plan, with assumptions explained beside the chart. They show the scale of the planned funding requirement. Future budgets, assessments and service decisions can change the bill. This illustration uses the published plan schedules; it does not incorporate every later amendment or new service approval.
A calculation using the adopted plan, with today’s tax shares held steady. Future figures are approximate.
| Year | Area B total | Per average home Annual SRD tax |
|---|---|---|
| 2026Budget | $1,327,830 | $1,502.12 |
| 2027Projection | ≈ $1,651,863+24.4% on prior year | ≈ $1,866+$364 on prior year |
Area B’s total in 2027
About $324,033 more than 2026
Per average home, per year
About $30 more a month than 2026
Bars show the Area B total. Changes beside each year compare with the preceding year. This projection covers SRD property taxes; collection fees and other authorities’ taxes are extra.
How the projection is calculated
For each of the 22 service lines, we apply the tax requirement in the five-year plan to Area B’s 2026 share. We do the same with the SRD’s published 2026 average-home contribution to that service, then add the results. Shared services are allocated to Area B, rather than charged wholly to the island.
This holds service boundaries, relative assessments and cost-sharing steady. It does not predict assessment changes, new properties, future budget amendments or new service approvals. The household amounts are our illustration from the plan, not an SRD-issued forecast of future household bills. Published rounding is retained.
2026 Area B shares, PDF p. 152 ↗2026 household estimates, PDF p. 153 ↗
Five-year service schedules
Fire and parks
The 2027 plan raises the fire tax requirement by $89,065 and parks by $51,715. Fire reserve saving resumes. Parks uses less savings and money carried forward, even as its spending budget falls.
2026 financial plan, PDF p. 156 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 157 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 167 ↗
Shared costs count
2026 financial plan, PDF p. 74 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 125 ↗
Smaller services add up
The 2027 plan adds $24,289 for grants in aid, $20,015 for Area B studies and $10,716 for first medical response. I want those changes explained in terms of the work they will fund and the benefit residents will receive.
2026 financial plan, PDF p. 154 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 155 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 158 ↗
A healthy reserve is one that can meet its commitments. The balance means more when we know which vehicles, buildings and equipment it will have to replace.
An everyday example
What a lower
garbage fee can hide.
In March 2026, SRD staff described the $86 annual collection fee as being subsidized from reserves. Their estimate was that about $121 would cover the service without that support.
Using accumulated savings can return money to the people who paid it. We should be clear about the subsidy, how long it lasts and the fee that may follow. The $121 figure was a staff estimate, not an adopted fee.
Collection gets garbage and recycling picked up. Disposal is a separate service, including tipping costs. The collection fee is therefore not the whole cost of handling our waste.
March 2026 waste collection report, PDF p. 2 ↗March 2026 waste collection report, PDF p. 3 ↗
in the staff report
full-cost estimate
About $121Estimated fee without reserve support
A simplified explanation of staff’s normalized estimate. It is not a newly approved charge or a division of each household’s actual service cost.
From proposal to public benefit
A project list
is a starting point.
The detailed 2026 budget provides $6.3 million for proposed community social initiatives capital work. It assumes $6.2 million in conditional federal funding and $100,000 from the Community Works Fund reserve.
The individual projects listed in the plan add to $6.33 million, which is $30,000 more than the detailed budget. Those figures need to be reconciled. Neither a budget entry nor a project list confirms a grant award or a completed facility.
Outside funding can make worthwhile improvements possible. I want us to be clear about what has been secured, what is ready to proceed and what residents will be responsible for maintaining afterwards.
2026 financial plan, PDF p. 164 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 165 ↗2026 detailed budget, PDF p. 74 ↗
Can we do it?
Is the money confirmed?
Grant awards and conditions, our contribution and ongoing costs.
What has been delivered?
Contracts, spending, completion and the benefit people can use.
My approach
Explain the choices.
Then make them carefully.
What is the full cost?
Include the staff, contracts, maintenance and eventual replacement. Show the tax or fee path beyond the current year.
What are we getting?
Connect the money to the service people receive. Explain delayed work and report when it is completed.
What choices remain?
Set out the commitments already made, the funding still available and the trade-offs between the next priorities.
I will explain the choices, show the evidence and report back on what happens. If I get something wrong, I will correct it. Being careful with our money starts with making the decisions understandable.
What would you like explained?About these figures
The tax history uses reported actual requisitions through 2025 and the 2026 budget. Later years are planning assumptions. Figures are Canadian dollars, without an inflation adjustment. A change in the area’s total is not the same as the change on every home’s bill; assessments, service boundaries and service levels can also change.
“Per average home” uses the SRD’s published annual residential tax estimates. For 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, this page uses the updated prior-year comparison in the following financial plan. The 2026 estimate comes from the 2026 plan. These are estimates, even where the area-wide total is an actual figure. The average home changes between years, and individual services can have different boundaries and residential averages. The fire service area expanded in 2025. This is a guide to scale, rather than a bill for one unchanged house.
2023 financial plan, PDF p. 115 ↗2024 financial plan, PDF p. 127 ↗2025 financial plan, PDF p. 149 ↗2026 financial plan, PDF p. 153 ↗
The financial plans’ prior-year operating figures are projections, so they have not been presented here as final actual spending. This page is a guide to the choices in the records, not an audit of every transaction. The sources are linked beside the relevant figures.
2026 financial plan, PDF p. 153 ↗Who collects rural property taxes ↗
Records reviewed September 12, 2026