The 2026/27 bill · AIT-BUD-001
They can show you the bill. Can they show you the result?
The approved budget plans to spend $11.8 million. Total planned spending is up 5.1 percent. The Local Trust Areas already pay tax. The ask from that same base is up 8.1 percent. Fifteen years of audited accounts, measured person by person, are on the finance page.
What we found
Those numbers show one thing. The budget went up, and so did the tax ask. They do not show waste. The open question is about value. What does this extra layer of government do that a normal local government could not?
- The Trust says the budget keeps services at the same level. It also pays for a few chosen projects.
- The two numbers are not measured from the same starting point. One counts all spending. The other counts only the money asked from the areas that already pay. So the two percent signs are not the same size. Always print them together.
- A plan to shut the Trust down must do two things first. Price out the switch, dollar by dollar. Then test the same service before and after, on the same terms. Only then can anyone promise savings.
The demand
Show us the whole receipt. For each service: what it does, what it achieved, who gave it the power, what one unit costs, and what a town council or regional district would take over.
Sources you can check
- Islands Trust — 2026/27 Budget — Approved budget highlights; verified 2026-08-24.
The honest receipt: fifteen years of audited accounts · What planning costs per resident · “Just look at Bowen” · Trust islands vs non-Trust islands · How the Trust actually functions