Town of Osoyoos chief administrative officer Barry Romanko told members of the Osoyoos Rotary Club about how the town has benefitted immensely from the province’s Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funding over the past several years. Numerous projects to beautify the town and attract more tourists have been completed strictly because of this funding, said Romanko. Romanko is shown with Rotary Club president Judy Myers Bennett. (Keith Lacey photo)
While it’s common for municipal leaders to complain about the lack of financial support from the provincial government, the chief administrative officer for the Town of Osoyoos had nothing but praise for a provincial program that has reaped major rewards for our community and residents over the past several years.
Speaking as the special guest at a recent Osoyoos Rotary Club luncheon meeting, Barry Romanko explained how the province’s Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funding has allowed the town to complete several major projects over the past seven years.
“’I would say this has been a very, very successful program for our community,” said Romanko, who will be celebrating his sixth year as town CAO in November after spending eight years in a similar position in Jasper, Alta. “There are an awful lot of communities in this province that would love to be on the list (to receive RMI funding).”
Osoyoos is one of 14 rural municipalities spread across British Columbia that receive annual RMI funding, said Romanko.
The program was started in 2007 and Osoyoos started receiving funding the following year.
Other communities that receive annual RMI funding include smaller communities, like Osoyoos, that rely heavily on tourist dollars to promote economic development, including Revelstoke, Golden, Fernie, Invermere, Tofino and Whistler, he said.
The amount of money given to the respective communities is based on how many hotel rooms that community has, population and the importance of tourism to that community, he said.
“With 1,200 hotel rooms in our town of 5,000 people … it speaks to the importance of tourism in our community,” said Romanko.
The goal of RMI funding is “simply to increase tourism in these communities and drive economic development across the province” in these rural tourism destinations, he said.
For the past several years, the local hotel and motel association in Osoyoos has approved and been charging a two per cent levy to all customers and that money is sent to the provincial government, said Romanko.
“That is not the amount of money we get back from the province,” he said.
The amount the town receives is based on a formula implemented by the provincial government, based on the number of visitors to local hotels and motels, he said.
“The more money that is spent (on accommodations), the more money you get back from the province,” he said.
The town has received between $285,000 and $300,000 annually over the past several years and more than $2.1 million since 2008, he said.
That money has been spent on numerous projects that are designed to attract more tourists, but local citizens ultimately reap the benefits the most as they get to use and view the amenities each and every day, said Romanko.
Some of the projects that have been developed and completed with RMI funding over the past five years include trail development improvements, purchase of a beach cleaning machine, the opening of the boat trailer park, and upgrades and improvements to several washrooms in local parks, said Romanko.
Town council also chose to provide $40,000 in seed money taken directly from RMI funding to help organize the inaugural Desert Live Music Festival this past summer in Osoyoos, he said.
The festival attracted many tourists, he said.
The province monitors the program on an annual basis to ensure communities that receive RMI funding are spending the money on projects that improve the community, while enhancing the tourist experience, he said.
Despite the fact so many rural tourist destination communities have benefitted from RMI funding for several years, the provincial government has thus far refused to promise long-term financing moving forward, said Romanko.
“Funding for this program is always tenuous as the province will only say that “the program will continue as long as funding is available.”
For the time being, the province appears committed to continuing RMI funding to Osoyoos and the 13 other resort municipalities and hopefully it will continue for many years to come and it has made a dramatic positive impact for residents, said Romanko.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
