Electoral Area G Residents to Vote on Community Hall Funding

By Jo Boxwell

On September 6, 2025, residents of CSRD Electoral Area G (which includes the communities of Blind Bay, Sorrento and Notch Hill) will be asked to vote on taxpayer funding for the area’s five community halls. The assent vote (referendum) will ask taxpayers to contribute funds to Blind Bay Hall, Carlin Hall, Notch Hill Town Hall, Cedar Heights Social Centre, and the Sorrento Community Hall (which is run by the Sorrento Community Hall Association and the Sorrento Drop-In Society). If voters approve the proposal, Sorrento Community Hall and the Sorrento Drop-In Society will each receive $7,500 annually (since they share a building and therefore some of the costs), while the other societies that run the halls will receive $10,000 each per annum to be put towards operating costs.

Blind Bay Hall. (Photo credit: Scoop staff)

Background -Community halls in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) are owned and operated not by the local government, but by non-profit societies. The halls, which provide space for a variety of events, activities and social gatherings as well as serving as emergency meeting points, are therefore dependent on the efforts of volunteers and their ability to secure funding to maintain the halls. Aging buildings, rising costs and other challenges such as new requirements for accessing Community Works Fund (formerly gas tax) grants means the financial pressures on the halls are significant and increasing.

Across the province, community halls operate on a range of different models, even within one regional district. The Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD), for instance, owns and operates three community halls (Avola Schoolhouse, Little Fort Community Hall and Vavenby Community Hall), while also being home to other halls that are run by non-profits or municipalities. The TNRD website explains that, “Through grant funding, the TNRD provides financial assistance to many community halls.”

Community halls are part of BC’s rural landscape; in many areas, they are the only indoor public settings where people can gather. The facilities themselves are diverse when it comes to the specific services they provide, how well supported they are by volunteers and the wider community, their financial health and the condition of the buildings. Since all of the community halls in the CSRD are owned and operated by non-profit societies, the results of Area G’s assent vote could start conversations in other electoral areas about providing more support for community halls.

Costs - If voters approve funding for community halls, the cost implications for Area G residents will either come through a parcel tax or a tax based on property values (known as an ad valorem tax). According to a CSRD press release, a parcel tax would result in an estimated $16.54 per year per property. A tax based on property value would amount to “$2.25 per $100,000 of assessed value, which equates to approximately $15.43 per average residential Electoral Area G property valued at $686,468” according to the press release.

Information for Voters - Eligible voters in electoral area G will have the opportunity to vote via mail-in ballot or in person on two dates (advance and general voting days). Polling stations will be located in Blind Bay and Sorrento. More details are available below:

ADVANCE VOTING: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2025, 8 AM - 8 PM

GENERAL VOTING: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2025, 8 AM - 8 PM

The two voting locations are: Shuswap Lake Estates Community Centre - 2405 Centennial Drive, Blind Bay and St. Mary’s Anglican-United Church - 1188 Trans-Canada Highway, Sorrento.

To apply for a mail-in ballot, visit the CSRD website (csrd.bc.ca/592/Electoral-Area-G-Community-Hall-Referend). The deadline to submit a mail-in ballot request form is 12 pm, August 22. Completed ballots must have been received at the CSRD Office by 8pm on September 6 (general voting day).

Voters will be asked: “Are you in favour of the CSRD adopting the Electoral Area G Community Halls Financial Contribution Service Establishment Bylaw No. 5902, 2025 to establish a service for the purpose of providing a financial contribution to community halls in Electoral Area G, and to authorize a maximum annual taxation of $61,000 or $0.0225/$1,000 of net taxable value of land and improvements, whichever is greater?”