Last Resort Society Tax Requisition Referendum

About ten days before the Last Resort Society's Annual General Meeting I sent the directors, and Melinda, their administrator, this email:

I do not have email addresses for these directors. Please would you forward my email to them, or send me their email addresses.  Thank you.    Sandy Morrison, Brennan Johnson, Eric O'Higgins

Dear JFC directors,

I am writing in response to the news that you will be seeking Powell River Regional District (Area E) tax funding to cover the $45,000 annual operating costs of our health centre. I have a number of questions I'd like to have answered before I support the service establishment referendum this October. I expect that many other Lasqueti people will also appreciate having this information, and that it will make the AGM on the 16th go much smoother if people could have the information before the meeting, so we can ask for clarifications and explanations where they are needed, rather than receiving the information at the AGM.

Did the board consider and have a plan to cover costs for operating the health centre?  What level of costs were planned for, and what costs were not anticipated? What was the plan and why didn't it work?

What are the actual operating costs that amount to $45,000 each year?  I'd like as detailed information of these as is possible, please.  Have ways to reduce the costs been considered? Are there ways to reduce the cost, or other alternatives to having the costs covered by taxpayers?

What are the revenues of the Last Resort Society?  There must be rent from the elder cottage, from the nurse and doctor's use of the health centre facilities, from groups and individuals that rent the meeting space, and possibly from other sources.  It would seem much more reasonable to ask taxpayers to cover only the operating deficit (revenue minus expenses) rather than the total expenses.

The operating expense of $45,000 is nearly one thousand dollars (actually $865) a week, for a (roughly) weekly nurse clinic, a quarterly doctor clinic, telehealth consultations, a meeting space, food bank storage space, a treatment room, a respite suite and a place for the First Responders to wait with patients. I probably don't need to point out that the facilities are significantly underutilized.

Are there any longer-term plans to reduce the cost to taxpayers, as when more residential units are completed, or do you anticipate that tax revenue will continue to be needed to cover expenses?

If you have any questions, or information for me, please email or call.  I look forward, with a bit of trepidation, to the AGM and the community discussion of this plan.

Thank you very much for your contributions to our community and especially to Lasqueti health and elder care.       Peter

I received this financial information from Melinda the day before the AGM

LASQUETI LAST RESORT SOCIETY 2017 REVENUE & EXPENSES
REVENUE

DONATIONS 35,674.00
OTHER INCOME
Elder Cottage 7,800.00
Health centre revenue 600.00
Fundraising, 5,608.00
Interest 206.00
Memberships 245.00
50,133.00

EXPENSES
Accounting &Legal 1,200.00
Advertising & Promotion 351.00
Bank Charges & Interest 557.00
Fundraising purchases 638.00
Insurance 7,949.00
Licences & dues 80.00
Office and sundry 397.00
Repairs & maintenance 34,570.00
Administrator 19,113.00
64,855.00

NET INCOME (DEFICIT) (14,722.00)