SATURNA ISLAND PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT May 5, 2007

It is now two years since work began on the formation of the Saturna Island Property Owners Association. In any organization it is always prudent to know where you came from, why you exist and how you intend to plan for the future and these will be the central themes of this Annual Report.

First, in terms of our history, the initial suggestion for such an organization came from Marilyn Bolton, who felt that Saturna Island needed to become a municipality so that it could organize, control and hold accountable those representatives elected or appointed to positions which affect our lives. This idea was picked up by others, including Susie Washington-Smyth and Lorne Bolton, who initiated a discussion with islanders frustrated with the lack of action concerning a number of pressing issues confronting property owners on Saturna Island.

In the course of doing research on what to do, we learned that property owners on Thetis Island had been confronted with the same problems and had incorporated a Property Owner’s Association to champion those issues of concern to property owners. Based on the experience of Thetis Island, Lorne Bolton, Susie Washington-Smyth and Cunliffe Barnett undertook to draft the Constitution and Bylaws during the fall of 2005. During that period a group of like minded individuals were contacted and used as a sounding board in the drafting process. In this context the drafters were fortunate to have access to the wise counsel and legal skills of George Jones, Q.C., of Jones Emery Hargreaves Swan, whose services were contributed to us without charge. We owe him a great debt of gratitude.

By the New Year, the group was ready for incorporation and on January 26, 2006 the Saturna Island Property Owners Association was formed under the British Columbia Society’s Act. On February 27, 2006 Richard Backus, Cunliffe Barnett, John Gaines, Hugh Grasswick, Brian Haley, Nick Kaiser, John Money, Don Piper and Susie Washington Smyth became the first directors who formed the Interim Executive Committee. Cunliffe Barnett resigned from the Executive Committee in July of 2006 when he moved away from the island and Bernie Ziegler was appointed to complete his one-year term.

Discussion started on the matter of how to define priorities and the drafting of the first communication to Saturna Property owners. With respect to communications, it was recognized from the beginning that the organization would not survive nor would it reflect the will of most property owners if it relied solely on public meetings to communicate. The internet and direct mail were seen as the means to create a forum which would be responsive and interactive.

The next step was to set up a “user-friendly” means to communicate online. John Buttery, a property owner on Saturna, provided invaluable assistance in helping to set up the internet forum in Yahoo Groups. The SIPOA Executive Committee would like to formally thank John for his assistance in setting up the SIPOA group site and for his continuing technical help. The group forum was time-consuming to set up and register members but after the initial start up problems, it now appears that most members who are online are comfortable with posting notices and reading reports. Our recent elections poll and notice about the AGM demonstrate that members are using the forum and are reading the emails.

For those members not online, all documents and most letters to and from ministers and other elected representatives are mailed on a regular basis. Two individuals who wish to remain anonymous have taken on the task of duplicating materials and mailings to members. The Executive Committee wishes to thank them for their efforts.

As most of you know, SIPOA went public on July 7, 2006 and invited all Saturna Property owners to become members. The response was immediate with 115 households and businesses signing up by September. Today our 132 members represent approximately 30% of all private property owners on Saturna, come from a broad cross-section of islanders and from all the neighbourhoods on the island, including Boot Cove, Lyall Harbour, Group of 30, Old Point Farm, Winter Cove, East Point, Saturna Beach and Narvaez Bay. Over 100 members are online.

Members were asked to identify and prioritize issues to be investigated by SIPOA. In response to member comments, activities to date include:

Taxation - As a first step, Lorne Bolton developed an information sheet on the property taxes paid, including assessed values by category of taxation and taxation mill rates. The results demonstrated that Saturna Property owners pay close to $1,000,000 a year in property taxes to various provincial and regional government agencies. The next step was to contact our elected representatives and request information on the services provided from these taxes. Subsequently the board contacted the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and discovered they had produced a B.C. Property Tax Report in 2006. This was sent to all members and provides a provincial baseline for the upcoming analysis of mill rates and taxation which will be available shortly.

Roads – The board undertook several letters to our MLA regarding the deterioration of our roads. Our concern has prompted a response from our Provincial MLA, Murray Coell, who has agreed to come once the legislature rises to inspect the sorry state of our island roads. SIPOA will press for significant improvements.

Payment in lieu of Taxes (PILT) – As a result of the taxation analyses it became apparent that approximately $20 million of assessed land on Saturna is now in the new Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. Moreover, the national park has created a situation which not only results in lost opportunity costs for the island but lost tax revenue for Saturna Island. Parks Canada has informed SIPOA that last year the province billed them $28,926 for payment in lieu of taxes. Those funds flow directly from the province to the CRD, which is the designated agency for administering the PILTs. Our analysis revealed that the only money from this payment which returns to Saturna is $2,200 from the CRD to the Saturna Fire Protection Society. The CRD explanation is that:

“the distribution of the Federal Grant in Place (pilt) the breakdown is as follows:

Fire Protection Services – $9k

Parks and Recreation – $3k

Administration - $11k

Other - $6k

Other would include animal control, libraries, museums, traffic safety, building inspection and emergency response.”

We find this explanation totally unsatisfactory, in particular because payments in lieu of taxes are by definition to replace property taxes paid for lands on Saturna. Therefore, they should provide benefits to the island which the foregone taxes would have provided. The facts appear otherwise. SIPOA is gathering additional information on this matter and will continue to pursue this subject with the CRD.

In addition to these board initiatives, members have used the SIPOA group forum to actively support the campaign to alert B C. Ferries regarding the economic impacts of reduced Friday night ferry service. Members also used the forum to alert others about the Parks Canada Area Planning for Winter Cove and Narvaez Bay public process.

PRIORITES FOR THE NEXT YEAR

The Executive Committee will continue its work on taxation, PILT and follow-up to our discussion with Murray Coell on roads. However, SIPOA is a member driven organization and is only able to do as much as our volunteers contribute. As a result we need to hear from you regarding what other initiatives you want SIPOA to undertake and time you are willing to commit. Our meeting today will solicit your ideas about issues we need to focus on in the coming year.

Meanwhile, on behalf of the Executive Committee, we would like to thank the outgoing board members – Richard Backus, Hugh Grasswick, and Don Piper for their work. We also want to thank all SIPOA members for their support and we look forward to continuing our work together.

The Treasurer’s Report follows and both reports along with the minutes of this meeting will be posted on line or mailed out to members.