Public art is as important to White Rock’s revitalization and economic development as anything else, and funding to support it deserves inclusion in the city’s upcoming budget.
Coun. Lynne Sinclair made the statement during last month’s Finance and Audit Committee meeting, after learning a $50,000 reserve fund for public art was not incorporated into the city’s draft operating budget.
Council voted last year to provide the funding subject to the budget, Sinclair said, and it is a worthwhile investment.
“I feel that this is an idea whose time has come. We’re behind other cities,” she said.
But while Sinclair made a motion to add the reserve into the budget – a move that would bump the city’s proposed 3.91 per cent property tax increase to 4.21 per cent – her fellow councillors rejected the notion at their Jan. 24 meeting.
Coun. Doug McLean said he is opposed to increasing taxes when money for such projects is available as a result of recent development projects, including Bosa’s Miramar Village and Epta’s Avra.
Financial director Sandra Kurylo explained the city has $500,000 in a reserve fund, and the amount is expected to climb to about $700,000 as more developments come forward. More than half of the current reserve – $300,000 – is from the Bosa project, for an amenity within the project.
Coun. Al Campbell said he was “astonished” by the reserve fund, and suggested that if developers were told their amenity funds could benefit public art in areas outside of their own projects, “I think they would have no problem with that.”
Coun. Mary-Wade Anderson added it “doesn’t quite fit” for the city to allocate $50,000 for public art.
“A lot of people would say that White Rock itself is a public art, and we mustn’t forget that,” she said.
Council endorsed the city’s Community Public Art Policy last July. It suggested a $50,000 fund could be divided between projects focused on youth-at-risk ($10,000), community projects ($25,000) and a fund for project maintenance ($15,000).
Coun. Helen Fathers was away on vacation during last month’s meeting, but had asked her fellow councillors to discuss a return of the funding to the budget.
Fathers later said she is disappointed with how the discussion turned out.
“This way, it would’ve been a sustainable funding source and we would’ve known how we’re going to take care of things,” Fathers said. “I wish I would’ve been there to fight the cause.”
Fathers noted the reserve from funding has nothing to do with community art. Developers can choose to use the money for benches and light standards if they want, she said.
“It’s not community-driven.”
Mayor Catherine Ferguson was also not at the Jan. 24 meeting, due to illness, but later added her voice to the chorus of opposition.
“I agree that it’s something that is a nice-to-have, but we don’t need-to-have, because we do have some projects and public art coming forward in the next while,” Ferguson said.
“Public art and culture is extremely important,” Ferguson said. “I think it’s something that can really define us as a community.
“In these fiscally tight times, we also have to look at what is in the hopper and we do have some things in the hopper… so we’re not going to be going without, it’s just a matter of when we’re going to be putting it into the operating budget as an ongoing.”
During question period at the start of the council meeting held earlier that night, White Rock resident Barbara Cooper, who chairs the city’s cultural committee appealed to the politicians to support measures that will enable the public art policy to move forward.
“I see the allotment of that kind of funding as essential,” Cooper said.
Without funding “you’re just doing it lip service,” she said.
Citizens may comment on the decision and other aspects of the draft financial plans during a meeting 6 p.m. Feb. 14, in council chambers, 15322 Buena Vista Ave.