Revenue sharing agreement signed into law

April 9, 2007

When Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed watched Community Services Minister Ida Chong sign her name to the long-awaited Revenue Sharing Agreement in the BC government cabinet offices high above Canada Place Friday (March 30), he felt a mixture of relief and excitement, and an unusual case of nerves.

“I was so nervous my hand was shaking and I flubbed my signature,” he said.
The nerves came, he said, with the realization that after seven years of planning, strategizing, meetings, negotiations, more meetings, more negotiations, refinements and, perhaps, a few prayers, the revenue sharing agreement for the BC Resort Community Collaborative, (aka Whistler’s financial tools), was being signed into law.

“We welcome Whistler as the first signatory under the Resort Municipality Revenue Sharing Program, and look forward to this being the start of a mutually beneficial long-term partnership,” said Minister Chong. “Vibrant, sustainable resort-based communities across B.C. – whether small or large – provide tourism and economic development opportunities.”

“It is groundbreaking legislation,” said Mayor Melamed later. “We congratulate Premier Gordon Campbell, Minister Chong, Ms McIntyre, cabinet colleagues and staff for their leadership and vision. It’s so innovative and meaningful, and provides the BC resort communities with the long-term stability and secure funding we need to sustain and build upon our tourism success.”

With Mayor Melamed, Minister Chong and Vancouver Garibaldi MLA Joan McIntyre, were Councillors Tim Wake, Bob Lorriman and Eckhard Zeidler, and Whistler CAO Bill Barratt, Jim Godfrey, executive director of the 2010 Winter Games for Whistler, and Diane Mombourquette, general manager of economic viability.

“I have to acknowledge Jim Godfrey’s contribution,” said Mayor Melamed. “He has been diligently pursuing this for seven years, finding a way to make it work for everyone. Without his strategic brilliance and sheparding of this project, it could not have become a reality.”

Under the revenue sharing program, Whistler will invest in a range of programs and projects, including enhancing the village host and visitor information programs, holding cultural celebrations, adding to the trails network, and building employee housing and infrastructure. These investments are guided by the strategic priorities of Whistler2020, ensuring social and environmental sustainability, and a healthy economy.

The provincial government estimates a total of $10 million annually in provincial hotel room tax will be transferred to participating municipalities through the Resort Municipality Revenue Sharing Program for local projects that can include such things as street or park improvements, festivals or amenities to increase all-season resort opportunities.

To be eligible, municipalities must have tourism economies or be designated as a “mountain resort municipality” under the Local Government Act. Communities must be prepared to put in place an additional two per cent hotel room tax, and enter into a five-year results-based tourism development agreement that sets out what will be achieved through revenue sharing.

Twelve other municipalities are currently eligible to enter into agreements. They are: Fernie, Golden, Harrison Hot Springs, Invermere, Kimberley, Osoyoos, Radium Hot Springs, Revelstoke, Rossland, Tofino, Ucluelet and Valemount.

“This revenue sharing program came out of the recommendations of the B.C. Resort Task Force, which was formed in 2003,” said Tourism, Sport and the Arts Minister Stan Hagen. “The program is a vital part of our strategy to eliminate barriers to resort development and expansion and to meet Premier Campbellís goal of doubling B.C. tourism by 2015.”