琉璃神社 city council is fully behind sustainable funding for programs aimed at helping keep downtown core areas safe and clean.

Community Safety Services unveiled a proposed model for ambassador programs in Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) in the city, including the Downtown 琉璃神社 Association (DKA) and Uptown Rutland Business Association鈥檚 (URBA) On Call and Clean Teams.

The city supports the DKA annually and in 2024 provided URBA with $130,000 in one-time funding for its pilot on-call program, which was a recommendation from the Mayor鈥檚 Task Force on Crime Reduction. At its Nov. 4 meeting, council heard that there is no formalized process to provide BIAs with a clear understanding of what financial assistance is available from the city in addition to the annual levy.

鈥淎 need鈥檚 been identified to establish a formal, predictable funding model for current and future BIA ambassador programs,鈥� Kevin Duggan, manager of the Community Safety Services branch, told council.

Under the funding formula, a BIA is eligible to receive an annual set rate of $100,000 or 25 percent of the ambassador program costs, whichever is greater.

The $100,000 amount will increase by five percent on Jan. 1 each year, beginning in 2026. A BIA proposing a new ambassador program may be eligible for up to an additional $40,000 for start-up costs.

Future support of the programs was a concern for Councillor Ron Cannan, who wanted to see some funding shifted away from taxpayer revenue. He referenced the (PBD) in Ventura, California, which uses parking revenue to fund BIAs.

鈥淭heir downtown benefit reduced crime by 40 percent,鈥� Cannan said. 鈥淢any businesses opposed the measure because they were concerned about losing business, but later the same year, 83 percent supported it.鈥�

Councillor Gord Lovegrove liked the idea but noted that there is no pay parking in the Rutland downtown core.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 perhaps a problem with the idea of a PBD...until people make the connection that it鈥檚 going to protect me, my property, as well as keep our streets safe.鈥�

Councillor Luke Stack added that future funding should be carefully considered.

鈥淜nowing this is saving a lot of wear and tear on our RCMP officers and the expensive cost of our RCMP, perhaps it might be a slight reduction in the increase of RCMP funding, with some of the funds being directed towards these programs that are having good results.鈥�

City Manager Doug Gilchrist pointed out that the funding is a recommended project for 2025.

鈥淚 would caution council not to get too far into which programs are funded from which source,鈥� he added. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we rely on the finance group to do.鈥�

Council voted unanimously to give the funding policy three readings. It will come back to council for adoption at a later date.