City of Powell River council has approved a temporary borrowing bylaw for the consolidated wastewater treatment plant.
At the June 16 city council meeting, council unanimously approved the bylaw.
Councillor George Doubt, who chairs the finance committee, said this bylaw authorizes increased borrowing for the plant to a total of $30,701,000, which will be borrowed to complete the construction, if it is necessary to borrow the money.
Doubt said the process for borrowing money involves first approving a bylaw at the council table after having gone through all reports from the chief financial officer. He said the request to borrow money goes to qathet Regional District, which puts in an application to the provincial municipal finance authority, which does the borrowing for all municipalities in the province.
“Once it is approved by the regional district, then the municipal finance authority takes over,” said Doubt. “Twice a year, they issue new debt and the municipal finance authority issues debentures, which they sell to investors at a fixed interest rate. They divide the money that comes from the sale of those debentures among the borrowers.
“It’s a fairly complex process but it helps greatly, increasing the credit worthiness of each municipality because the borrowing is an entire municipal lump for the entire province. The protection against delinquency is greater, too. People with lots of money in their pockets buy the debentures because they are really good investments.”
