The Cowichan Valley Regional District board voted last week to move forward in establishing the Cowichan Valley Hospice Society as a service, which would mean more stable funding for the group.
As a service, the CVRD can fund Hospice with an annual maximum tax requisition of $62,500 in their regular budget rather than through grants-in-aid.
The CVRD has faced criticism from both directors on the board and members of the public in recent years as their grants-in-aid budget has ballooned. Many of the grants listed are given out each year. Grants-in-aid were originally intended to be one-time payments for particular projects.
The four municipal councils within the CVRD still need to give their consent, and a bylaw is being drafted to be sent to them for that purpose. Should one of the councils reject the proposal the process will have to start again without that partner.
Formal approvals will be sought from each of the 13 CVRD areas.
If they get the go-ahead, an alternate approval process can be conducted that will close at the end of September. This will allow the CVRD to put Hospice into the budget for next year.