TOP
HELP US WIN VOTE PANORAMA RECREATION CENTRE at KHV2015.ca COMMUNITY
BRING THEE NHL TO THA! PENINSUL
10
Cops face-off
• A 2015/2016 NHL UNLIMITED VOTING PRE-SEASON GAME in ROUND ONE! • $100,000 in PANORAMA March 21 @ 8:00pm until ARENA UPGRADES March 23 @ 9:00pm • National BRAGGING RIGHTS
NEWS: Community kitchen open for business /A3 JOCK TALK: Island women’s field hockey in semi’s /A16 HOMEFINDER: Ground breaks on Shire buildings /A22 /A21
Saanich, Victoria police host hockey fundraiser Page A5
SAANICHNEWS Friday, March 20, 2015
Gray Rothnie
250 744 7034
www.graymatters.ca
Connected to More
®
Watch for breaking news at www.saanichnews.com
Seniors centre asks for fair share of grants Daniel Palmer News staff
Travis Paterson/News staff
Spring break swing Henry Heyman, 5, takes a ride on the Cadboro-Gyro Park swing line while enjoying his spring break vacation from Hillcrest elementary. Students across B.C. head back to the classroom on Monday after a two-week break.
A request for more funding by Goward House Society is prompting the District of Saanich to re-examine the way it doles out more than $500,000 in community grants. Goward House Society president David Eyles wrote to council in December to point out disparity between the $20,000 the society receives as an annual operating grant and the $59,000 the District provided to Silver Thread Service’s Les Passmore Centre last year. Goward House had a paid membership of 490 while Les Passmore had 384 paid members in 2014. “In recent years, our membership and programs have increased significantly while our volunteer staff has aged and our few paid staff just worked harder rather than being increased in number,” Eyles said. “We are now close to being victims of our own success, continually doing more and more without significantly increasing our resources. We need the additional support.” The society is asking for another $10,000 to hire a second part-time employee in 2015. Goward House pays $1 annually to lease the facility from the municipality, and is also exempt from paying property tax as a not-forprofit organization. But the society holds the unique responsibility of funding or applying for grants for its major facility repairs. The District did fund the installation of an elevator ($19,000) and repairs on Goward House’s deck ($85,000) in past years, but the funds required one-time approval, according to a staff report. The Les Passmore Centre, in contrast, received $175,000 in services to cover repairs, grounds maintenance and most of its utilities
in 2014, the report notes. “When there has been a major renovation or repair, we’ve had to go and ask Saanich for a grant. That comes out of the District’s grants program, even though Goward House is their building,” said Elaine Leonard, Goward House manager and its only full-time employee. Seniors centres in Saanich fall under an array of lease, management, operating and partnership agreements with the District. Cedar Hill News Horizons, for example, uses the senior’s wing at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre, where facility repairs are already funded through the capital budget. Cordova Bay 55 Plus Association uses community space at Cordova Bay elementary, which is owned by School District 63. On Monday, council asked staff to review all of the leases on District-owned buildings, and to report back separately on “fine-tuning” the community grants program, said Coun. Fred Haynes. The revised system for evaluating and approving grants won’t be considered until September and won’t impact this year’s requests. In 2014, Saanich provided $598,531 in community grants to local organizations. This year’s grant requests are valued at $764,132, though council is expected to reject or reduce some of those applications beginning on April 21. “As we’re going through a governance review and looking at how we’re interacting with the community, we need to have a better understanding of how we allot these several hundreds of thousands of dollars in community grants,” Haynes said. “The goal here is to be able to treat everybody fairly and equitably.” editor@saanichnews.com
OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY, 1 - 3:00pm
Wonderful Brentwood Bay Home
Cordova Bay Executive Home
Stylish 2 Year Old Strata Duplex
1078 Llanfair Crescent $609,900 MLS 347882
5092 Clutesi Street MLS 345184
3890 Palo Alto Street $659,900 MLS 348106
RE/MAX Camosun
250.220.5061
www.preferredhomes.ca
Guy
Scott
Karl