Powell River Regional District’s funding formula for the proposed resource recovery centre has drawn fire from the board’s City of Powell River directors.
Colin Palmer, regional district committee of the whole chair and Electoral Area C director, said he had requested a status report outlining the outstanding grant applications made by the regional district to various funding sources. During the committee’s Thursday, August 20 meeting, Palmer said he wanted the city directors to take note of the fact that in the resource recovery centre New Building Canada Fund – Small Communities Fund application, it says the city would be expected to provide the local government portion of $1.5 million. The resource recovery centre, if funding is approved, would be a two-phase project, reclaiming the city’s old incinerator site and building a facility to deal with the region’s solid waste. Total cost for each phase is about $4.4 million.
“At some point recently, I was reading the financial statements of the city and it pointed out that the closure plans were in dispute,” Palmer said. “There was some dispute about who was paying. I don’t know if you’ve read that yourselves, but has the council discussed there is a dispute? It is in the financial statements.”
Maggie Hathaway, alternate city director, said she had received some comments from Russell Brewer, one of the regular city regional district directors, regarding the matter. Hathaway said Brewer stated that he struggles with the ongoing reference to including an expectation in phase one that the city would be providing $1.567 million for the resource recovery centre. Hathaway indicated Brewer would make a recommendation to remove the reference to the $1.5 million being paid by the city for the first phase of the project. Brewer indicated to Hathaway he thought the funding should be a regional district waste management cost.
Hathaway advocated a compromise. “My position would be that rather than the city putting in the amount for the first phase and the regional district the second, why wouldn’t we combine the money and each pay half, which would come to almost the exact same amount,” she offered. “That way it is a much fairer route.”
She said under the formula proposed by the regional district, if the first phase is funded and the second isn’t, the city is out the money and regional district pays nothing.
Hathaway said she thinks there needs to be further discussion before the city is compelled to pay for the first phase of the project.
Palmer said the second phase, if it happens, would be paid for by the city and the four electoral areas, but would not include Lasqueti Island.
Sandy McCormick, Texada Island director, asked when it was expected there would be word on the various grant applications. Linda Greenan, the regional district’s manager of financial services who prepared the status report outlining the grant applications, said the regional district is expecting to hear about the applications in the fall.
The committee of the whole voted to receive the report.
