VSB to miss deadline for balanced budget

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — It’s official, the Vancouver School Board will not be submitting a balanced budget to the Province by the June 30th deadline.

Trustees voted down an offer from the Education Minister Wednesday to sell Kingsgate Mall in order to help with a $21.8 million budget shortfall.

Moments after the vote, Education Minister Mike Bernier released a written statement that expressed disappointment.

“Our offer was a simple one – we gave them the go-ahead to sell Kingsgate Mall and put the proceeds back into education services. We backed that up with a guarantee of almost $6 million in exchange for a small ownership share in the mall if the sale does not happen in the next school year. Either option would have made sure the budget was balanced in Vancouver.”

VSB chair Mike Lombardi says they appreciate the effort of the minster but calls the plan short-sighted.

“What it basically says is, take $6-million out of potential capital assets, put it in to your operating funds, but next year you’ve got to pay those back, and our projected shortfall next year will increase by another $6-million. It would be counterproductive and unsustainable, so the board rejected it.”

Lombardi is calling on the minister to consider another proposal to meet the board’s needs.

Several fire-back exchanges played out on social media Wednesday evening including a war of words on Twitter between trustee Patti Bacchus and Bernier.

The province requires trustees to submit a balanced budget by June 30th.

They could be fired if they choose not to comply.

Back in April, the board voted against a budget that included more than $20-million worth of cuts.