ESQUIMALT'S SWEET DEAL (continued)
What services does Esquimalt provide to DND in return for the $11.5 million?
Fire Protection?
No. CFB Esquimalt/Naden, have their own fire department (which gives mutual aide to Esquimalt Fire Department from time to time).
Police?
No. CFB Esquimalt/Naden is self policing (Military Police).
Roads, sewer, water?
No. DND maintains its own internal infrastructure (roads, sewer and water pipes, etc). This includes the former Work Point Barracks, also in Esquimalt and the Colville Road facility. DND also pays Esquimalt for sewer connections and the City of Victoria for Bulk Water supply. (Victoria maintains Esquimalt’s water supply system and does their billing).
Esquimalt, in short, has a very sweet deal, thanks to Greater Victoria being a mish-mash of multiple municipalities. Esquimalt would experience a significant financial challenge were it not for the Federal DND subsidy. No other municipality in the CRD receives such a large percentage of its revenue from grants-in-lieu.
Compare that to amalgamated Halifax, home of DND's CFB Halifax. They receive 4% of their total revenue from DND. In amalgamated Halifax, the benefits of hosting CFB Halifax are shared across the metropolitan area.
Only the municipality of Esquimalt (population 16,000 – less than 5% of the population of Greater Victoria) receives the total subsidy, while providing little to the military, or to neighbouring municipalities, in return.
While Esquimalt receives significant compensation, neighbouring municipalities pick up much of the infrastructure costs. Consider the impact of all the daily traffic to and from Esquimalt military sites through the surrounding municipalities. Those municipalities (Saanich, Victoria, View Royal) receive nothing towards those impacts.
The Craigflower (Saanich and View Royal) and Johnson Street (Victoria) bridges carry traffic daily to and from the base, yet Esquimalt didn't contribute to the replacement costs. This is also true for all Esquimalt residents who travel to Victoria or neighbouring municipalities.
It is little wonder that Esquimalt Council is eager to protect this sweet deal.
What services does Esquimalt provide to DND in return for the $11.5 million?
Fire Protection?
No. CFB Esquimalt/Naden, have their own fire department (which gives mutual aide to Esquimalt Fire Department from time to time).
Police?
No. CFB Esquimalt/Naden is self policing (Military Police).
Roads, sewer, water?
No. DND maintains its own internal infrastructure (roads, sewer and water pipes, etc). This includes the former Work Point Barracks, also in Esquimalt and the Colville Road facility. DND also pays Esquimalt for sewer connections and the City of Victoria for Bulk Water supply. (Victoria maintains Esquimalt’s water supply system and does their billing).
Esquimalt, in short, has a very sweet deal, thanks to Greater Victoria being a mish-mash of multiple municipalities. Esquimalt would experience a significant financial challenge were it not for the Federal DND subsidy. No other municipality in the CRD receives such a large percentage of its revenue from grants-in-lieu.
Compare that to amalgamated Halifax, home of DND's CFB Halifax. They receive 4% of their total revenue from DND. In amalgamated Halifax, the benefits of hosting CFB Halifax are shared across the metropolitan area.
Only the municipality of Esquimalt (population 16,000 – less than 5% of the population of Greater Victoria) receives the total subsidy, while providing little to the military, or to neighbouring municipalities, in return.
While Esquimalt receives significant compensation, neighbouring municipalities pick up much of the infrastructure costs. Consider the impact of all the daily traffic to and from Esquimalt military sites through the surrounding municipalities. Those municipalities (Saanich, Victoria, View Royal) receive nothing towards those impacts.
The Craigflower (Saanich and View Royal) and Johnson Street (Victoria) bridges carry traffic daily to and from the base, yet Esquimalt didn't contribute to the replacement costs. This is also true for all Esquimalt residents who travel to Victoria or neighbouring municipalities.
It is little wonder that Esquimalt Council is eager to protect this sweet deal.
- Colin Nielsen
