FESTIVAL SEASON IS ABOUT TO BEGIN
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MAKING A CASE FOR A REFINERY
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JOB ACTION LITTLE IMPACT - SO FAR
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Metrotown is rising. See Page A18
FRIDAY
APRIL 25 2014 www.burnabynewsleader.com
SD41 grapples with budget Equivalent of 27 full-time jobs lost Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Michael MacLatchy, a specialist in watershed management for Associated Engineering, and Kel Coulson, an environmental engineer for the City of Burnaby, check out the John Matthews ravine, which had to be rebuilt after part of it collapsed in 2011. See STORY on page A3
Could churches help fight homelessness? Homeless count shows fewer on streets in Burnaby than in 2011 Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
Burnaby Coun. Paul McDonell would support the creation of homeless shelters on church properties in the city. McDonell stressed that’s his personal opinion and he was not speaking on behalf of council. The idea is that such properties
are exempted from paying city Vancouver homeless count. property tax. In Burnaby, there were 58 “I think personally, the people homeless people counted during a that get tax subsidies, that 24-hour period on March 12. pay no tax or very little tax, That’s down from 78 in 2011 should be giving something and 86 in 2008, but up from back to the community if they 42 in 2005. have a facility that could be Of this year’s total, 44 used for that.” were unsheltered, living McDonell, who serves as MCDONELL outside or couch surfing. chair of Burnaby’s social One was classified as having issues committee, was commenting no fixed address and another 13 in response to the preliminary were in transition houses or in the findings from this year’s Metro church space normally used as an
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extreme weather shelter, said Wanda Mulholland, of the Burnaby Task Force On Homelessness. While the weather didn’t qualify as a reason to open the extreme weather shelter, funding was found from other sources to open it that night to facilitate the homeless count, Mulholland explained. She stressed that the count is a snapshot in time and is generally viewed as an undercount.
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In the end, Burnaby school district will be cutting the equivalent of about 27 full-time jobs (FTE) to balance next year’s budget. That’s a far cry from the 42 jobs that were being threatened by proposed cuts announced earlier. But all along, the proposed cuts were worth more than the $3.1 million the district needed to find, noted district secretary-treasurer Greg Frank. That allowed the district and school board some flexibility to pick and choose where the savings would come from. The district also got some good news in recent weeks when the province released $265,000 in holdback funds to Burnaby, further reducing the shortfall to $2.8 million. School trustee Ron Burton, chair of the district’s finance committee, said public input helped give the board some direction on where to focus its efforts. “Some of the things were, of course, the band program was huge, libraries were huge.” see SHORTFALLS, A5