Funding for a new Walking School Bus route was a last-minute addition to the City of New Westminster’s 2025 budget.
At its Jan. 27 meeting, council voted 5-2 vote in support of three readings of the 2025 to 2029 financial plan bylaw, which includes a 6.6 per cent tax increase for 2025. Council, however, unanimously supported an amendment to the financial plan bylaw put forward by Coun. Tasha Henderson.
That amendment directs staff to reassign up to $45,000 to fund the current Walking School Bus routes for the 2025 to 2026 school year and to work with the Society of Children and Youth BC to add an additional route from Victoria Hill to Qayqayt Elementary School. Henderson told council she had conferred with staff that the amendment was in order and would not require staff to redraft the financial plan bylaw.
“Currently, we provide funding for two routes, one from Quayside to Qayqayt Elementary and one in Queensborough,” she said. “And I'd like to seek to add an additional route from Victoria Hill to Qayqayt Elementary School for the upcoming school year.”
Henderson said council had previously supported a motion to have staff work with the Society of Children and Youth BC around the ongoing support of the Walking School Bus program.
“We asked that staff support the organization to look for external sources of funding to decrease the amount of pressure on our operational budget, including TransLink grants that might be other than the city grant,” she said. “I was able to confirm with the society last week that they didn't have the internal capacity to apply for the city's grant program.”
Because the society was unable to access funding through the City of New Westminster’s grant program, Henderson said she consulted with the city’s chief financial officer and was told this would be an appropriate time to make sure the item makes its way into the 2025 budget.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine, who has advocated for funding for the Walking School Bus program, supported Henderson’s amendment.
“I’m obviously very supportive of this, and I'm pleased to see that it made its way into the budget,” he said. “It is an important priority, and we've talked about it in the context of making sure that kids don't need to be driven to school, that kids don't need to be in fossil-fuel vehicles back and forth, that these Walking School Bus programs are excellent, an excellent way of kids to get good physical activity and exercise.”
While he was thrilled to see council support funding for the program, Fontaine said it felt “like déjà vu” and expressed disappointment that didn’t happen when he brought forward a motion regarding funding for the program last year.
“My only regret is that we could have perhaps approved this earlier,” he said. “But nonetheless, as they say, better late than never.”
As part of the Walking School Bus program, groups of supervised students walk to and from school each day, stopping along the route to pick up or drop off kids.
In August 2024, council considered a three-part motion from Fontaine that sought to provide longer-term funding for the Walking School Bus program. That motion was to:
- Direct staff to work with the New Westminster District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) to seek out opportunities to expand the Walking School Bus program to other neighbourhoods throughout New West.
- Staff incorporate consideration of “significantly increasing” the city’s support of the program into the 2025 budget, including the possibility of establishing three-year funding.
- Consider the city’s climate action reserve fund as the primary source of potential funding for the program’s expansion, in order to reduce the impact on taxpayers.
The majority of council did not endorse the motion. Instead, council unanimously approved an amendment to Fontaine’s motion that was put forward by Coun. Nadine Nakagawa.
- Continue to work with DPAC, the Society of Children and Youth of BC, TransLink, and the school district to seek out opportunities to expand the Walking School Bus program to other neighbourhoods throughout New Westminster. (The word “continue” was added to Fontaine’s motion, as was the inclusion of the Society of Children and Youth of B.C.)
- To reduce the impact to residential taxpayers regarding the expansion of this program, that the city’s climate action reserve fund’s decision-making framework be applied, and that the Society of Children and Youth of BC be directed toward the city grant application process, and that potential partnership funds be sought from the school district, TransLink, and/or senior governments before the city commit to long-term funding. (This removed references recommending the climate reserve fund be considered as a primary source of potential funding for the program, and emphasized the need to have other organizations fund the program and/or seek funding through the city’s grant process.)
At the Jan. 27 meeting, Mayor Patrick Johnstone and councillors Ruby Campbell, Tasha Henderson, Jaimie McEvoy and Nadine Nakagawa supported the 2025 budget, while Fontaine and Coun. Paul Minhas were opposed. The police department’s budget also factored into Monday’s budget discussion; more to come on that discussion.
