Islands Trust organization, staff & budget

There are three major divisions of the Islands Trust:  Trust Council, Local Trust Committees and the Islands Trust Fund.

The Trust Council is made up of the 26 elected trustees (two from each of major Trust Area islands). They meet 4 times a year, usually on a Trust area island. Trust Council adopts an annual budget, maintains a policy statement that applies to all the Trust areas, files an annual report and appoints auditors. 

The Executive Committee (a chair and three vice-chairs elected by Trust Council from its members) is delegated (by Trust Council) the powers needed to oversee the operations of the Trust.

Trust Council also has three standing committees that work on finance, local planning issues common to all the islands, and other programs of value to the trust area.

The Lasqueti Trust Committee is made up of the two locally elected trustees (Susan Morrison and me) and the chair (David Graham from Denman) from the Executive Committee.

The Islands Trust Fund Board is made up of one Executive Committee member, two trustees elected by Trust Council, and up to three members appointed by the provincial government. Though its name sounds like it has a fund of money, it owns land and holds covenants on some privately owned land with the aim of preserving and protecting them.

Staff and offices

The Islands Trust has just under 50 employees, located in three offices: Victoria (for the southern Gulf Islands), SaltSpring (guess which island it's for), and Gabriola (for the northern Gulf Islands in the Trust area).

Budget

The 2012-13 budget is expected to be just under $7 million. 90% of this comes from property taxes and 2% comes from a provincial government grant. The rest is from fees, interest income, other grants and (if necessary) appropriations from surplus).

Costs of the Trust are: staff salaries & benefits 56%, office operations (rent, phones, heat, etc.) 19%, Council & trustee costs 10%, programs 6%, legal 5%, training, travel & recruitment 3%, equipment 1%.

By operational units costs are: local planning services 58%, administration services 21%, Trust Council & Trust area services 14%, Islands Trust Fund 7%.

Details of the current and past budgets can be found at  http://islandstrust.bc.ca/news/budget.cfm#