Coquitlam city council is set to pass its 2018 budget tonight (Monday), translating into a 2.41% bump for homeowners’ property taxes.
And while arts and culture leaders say they’re grateful for the 1.7% Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase to their bottom lines, many officials are questioning why their one-time requests fell on deaf ears at last month’s department presentations.
Joan McCauley, executive director for Place des Arts, said her team was hoping to hire a new marketing assistant to help with branding and website programs “as it is challenging for non-profits to find funding opportunities to increase human resources capacities,” she told The Tri-City News in an email last week.
Place des Arts’ CPI jump amounted to $15,940, bringing its total city grant to $953,580, said Coquitlam treasurer Michelle Hunt.
Across town, at the Evergreen Cultural Centre, executive director Jon-Paul Walden said he’s also disappointed his wish for a new technical operations assistant — or capital for banquet chairs or leg draperies — didn’t go through.
“Considering that they are fairly small asks for the arts and culture sector, it would be helpful to know why such requests are not granted,” he noted.
Evergreen received a $816,339 grant for 2018, which includes a 1.7% CPI jump of $13,646, Hunt said.
Meanwhile, Candrina Bailey, executive director of the Coquitlam Heritage Society, said her community exhibits program is in jeopardy after city council failed to fund its request for new displays; it received a grant of $240,149, which includes a $4,014 CPI boost of 1.7%.
Bailey told The Tri-City News that Coquitlam residents “want to see themselves within our exhibits, programming and collections.”
But “as people downsize their homes and move to other cities, we are sadly losing this history. It needs to be captured and collected as soon as possible. What I think most people don’t realize is that our exhibits take an amazing amount of time to prepare. A large portion of our funding request for 2018 was for staffing support. We needed this support for researching, developing the visual presentations, and preparing artifacts for display. It means that many cultural groups will continue to not see themselves in our exhibits and programs.”
Still, Todd Gnissios, executive director of the Coquitlam Public Library, said most of his team’s priorities were met by city council, which granted $5.2 million to run the two branches that includes:
• $151,000 for furniture;
• $47,282 to extend the facility’s hours;
• $25,000 for collections (half of what the organization requested);
• and $84,277 for a 1.7% CPI jump.
Gnissios said the library’s five-year-old furniture at both branches “is failing rapidly. The furniture is not keeping up with the heavy use and we have been waging a losing and expensive battle trying to repair the furniture.”
As for the extended hours, he said the restrictions to opening on statutory holidays and Sundays (adjacent to stats) were removed in the recently negotiated contract with unionized staff.
The move means library users will be able to access the facilities on all but five of the stat holidays annually, and opening all Sundays with longer hours, he said.
In addition, Societe Place Maillardville will finally see some cash flow its way, with a $509,035 grant in the new year that includes:
• $21,863 to extend weekend staff hours;
• 9,218 for staff benefit increase for new programs;
• $6,940 for records backup and storage;
• $5,500 for building interior painting;
• $4,000 for legal costs during the BC Society Act transition;
• $3,580 for a special event;
• $2,450 increase for training;
• and $7,614 for 1.7% CPI increase.
“The board and staff at Place Maillardville Community Centre continue to appreciate the on-going support from the city of Coquitlam for our initiatives,” said executive director Gord Peterson.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
