The Village of Pemberton (VOP) is halfway through its fiscal year, and although the collection of revenues and outlay of expenses are over 50 per cent already, the village is on track to be on budget.
Currently the village sits at 73 per cent of revenues with 60 per cent of the budgeted amounts having been expensed. However, this is nothing to be concerned about, said Lena Martin, manager of finance for the VOP, as it is due to taxes and utilities being received, as well as project grants collected in advance. Additional quarterly revenues and grants will be earned at year-end.
If those collections were removed, it would show the Village sitting at 65 per cent of budgeted revenues and 42 per cent of budgeted expenditures.
Current large projects on the 2021 work plan include: the second soccer field, amenity building and mountain bike skills park at Den Duyf Park, Pebble Creek Road recovery, water treatment preliminary design generators for water and sewer servicing, Pemberton Farm Road East Trail, wildfire protection, and Pemberton & District Community Centre outdoor basketball court, among others. According to Martin these projects will incur additional revenues and expenditures in Quarters 3 and 4.
Some projects like the soccer field, skills park and Pebble Creek Road recovery will also be bringing in more grant funding as those projects get underway.
As of July 20, there was $705,290 outstanding in current taxes and utilities, or 9.5 per cent unpaid, which Martin said is “better than average for this time of year.”
The Village has also received a Fire Smart Grant of $125,000 that was not originally budgeted, so they will be seeing increases in revenue with no budget.
Overall, she believes the Village is expected to be on budget at year-end.
Chief financial officer moving on
The Village of Pemberton’s chief financial officer, Lena Martin—who has held the position since 2015—is moving on from her current role as of Aug. 6.
With no replacement yet, chief administrative officer Nikki Gilmore will be appointed in the interim.
Gilmore has held the position in the past prior to becoming the CAO and it’s not uncommon in smaller communities for the CAO to also be the CFO, according to Sheena Fraser, manager of corporate and legislative services.
Bike Skills park contract awarded
The Village of Pemberton’s newest multi-use recreation area, Den Duyf Park, took another step towards completion when the Village awarded the contract to build the mountain bike skills park to Velosolutions.
“Velosolutions bring with them extensive knowledge of cycling and action sports asset development with considerable experience designing and building world-class pump tracks and bike parks,” read an emailed statement from the Village. “Velosolutions will be partnering with Coast Gravity Creations which brings 25-plus years of civil construction experience as well as constructing and maintaining a world-class bike park on the Sunshine Coast.”
Along with the mountain bike skills park, Den Duyf Park, when completed, will consist of two soccer fields, an amenity building, a baseball diamond and, when funding permits, a recreation complex including an arena and swimming pool.
According to the Village’s website, the mountain bike skills park will include four jump trails for all levels of riders, as well as an asphalt pump track for intermediate-level riders.
The bike park is expected to be completed and open to the public by summer 2022.
Village of Pemberton to receive two new EV fast chargers
Through a partnership between Natural Resources Canada, B.C.’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, B.C. Hydro and the Squamish Liquor Store, the Sea to Sky corridor will be receiving eight new electric-vehicle (EV) fast chargers by fall of 2021, if not earlier.
Two of those fast chargers, to be completed sometime this fall, will be located at 7452 Frontier Street in Pemberton and will be operated by B.C. Hydro.
Another two—also operated by B.C. Hydro and to be completed by this fall—are being built at 155 Main Street in Lillooet.
Fast chargers allow drivers of electric vehicles to get approximately 250 kilometres worth of charging per hour.
According to a news release from the ministry, “B.C. has one of the largest public charging networks in Canada,” with more than 2,500 charging stations across the province, including 480 fast-charging stations.
In addition to the four charging stations in Lillooet and Pemberton, two new stations have already opened in Squamish at 38241 Cleveland Ave., one new station at 5755 Cowrie St. in Sechelt and one station will be opening soon in Whistler at 5010 Whistler Way.
