The Thompson-Nicola Regional District will be facing a new pressure on its budget next year to administer five rural fire departments.

The regional district is taking over fire departments in McLure, Tobiano, Little Fort, Loon Lake and South Green Lake.

“Those groups approached the TNRD and said ‘we’re not sure we want to do this anymore, we’re not sure we can afford to do this anymore,’ with the potential problems that come in if someone were to be injured or killed,” director of finance Doug Rae says.

Rae points out people in those communities voted for the changes.

The draft budget shows fire service will cost the TNRD $7.8 million next year, a 45 per cent increase from the 2018 budget. That stark increase though is largely due to one-time costs to build new firehalls in Loon Lake and Tobiano, which the regional district had already budgeted for.

Rae says a new standardized provincial “playbook” has forced small departments to meet new mandates.

Many rural departments in B.C. have voiced concerns about having difficulties meeting those new regulations.

“The playbook and meeting those standards, there’s come to be a bit more of a realization of legal liabilities for those local community associations or societies that are running these rural fire departments,” Rae says. “They’ve come to realize the potential liability they’re on the hook for if anything goes wrong.”

Despite the hike in costs for fire services, the TNRD is projecting a 1.1 per cent decrease in property taxes next year for rural residents, largely attributed to the regional district saving more than $1 million dollars in solid waste management.