Pine Beetle is Ravaging SD57 Coffers

By 250 News

More and more school yards across the district stand bare, as a contractor work to clear beetle kill trees that pose a huge safety hazard...

School Board Trustee Lyn Hall says $180-thousand dollars was spent clearing trees from 19 schools last year, another $215-thousand will be spent this year.  And he says the final bill for removal, alone, could hit $1-million dollars, to say nothing of the cost of reforestation and beautification.

As Chair of the Management and Finance Committee, Hall points out the funds are being taken from the district's annual facility grant, meaning money ear-marked for roofing, furnace replacement and other infrastructure maintenance is being drained.

He says previous letters and meetings to discuss emergency funding from the province have proved fruitless, but the trustee likens the extraordinary funding to the dollars handed out on the coast for seismic upgrades.

Hall says the tree removal program is a huge hit to the district's pocketbook that cannot be made up and he says the issue will be pressed during a meeting with local M.L.A.s in two weeks time.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us