qathet Regional District’s finance committee is recommending that the regional board give first three readings to the resource-recovery centre and waste-transfer station loan authorization bylaw for up to $6.4 million.
At the April 5 finance committee meeting, a staff report indicated that the borrowing was approved in September 2021 but has not yet been acted on. The report stated that staff now requires the loan authorization bylaw to access the funds.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said reading the staff report indicates the estimated cost of constructing the centre and station, including expenses, is a sum of $21 million.
“Have we already borrowed money for this project, and if so, how much have we already borrowed?” asked Gisborne.
Manager of financial services Linda Greenan said the regional district has authority right now to borrow $5.5 million, and has been drawing that down. To date, $1.5 million of that has been drawn.
“We still have some money, about $4 million, that we can borrow from that, but the costs are starting to come in faster now, so we want to get this [new] borrowing in place,” said Greenan. “We draw down as we need the funding and then we will turn it into a long-term debt through a security issuing bylaw.”
Gisborne said his understanding was that $5.5 million in borrowing had been approved and now the regional district is looking at borrowing another $6.4 million, which brings the total up to $11.9 million for this project.
Greenan said that was correct.
City of Powell River alternate director Jim Palm said his understanding is that the regional district originally received a $6 million grant. He asked if all that money had been expended.
Greenan said the regional district still has $1.8 million of the $6 million grant to draw down on.
“That’s going quite quickly, so we should be drawn down on that by this summer,” said Greenan.
Palm said there is now a new figure of $21 million for the project. He asked if this is a more accurate figure than previous estimates.
Greenan said the estimates Palm referred to were for the build-out of all of the facilities.
“This $21 million total cost includes the access road and the site closure, which has already been spent and is part of our total project cost,” said Greenan. “Basically, that’s the full project, but there is nothing new to add to the budget. It’s all incorporated into the 2023 budget. This $21 million is the full project from inception to the 2023 budget.”
City director George Doubt said Greenan had mentioned the access road, which is a capital project for the city. Greenan said the work is being done by the city but it’s part of the project cost and the city is going to be contributing half, which is approximately $900,000.
Gisborne said he had concerns about the cost of borrowing money, given current interest rates.
“I’m wondering if there is any way we can bring that capital down—the amount that is being borrowed,” added Gisborne. “Would it be possible at a future date to use the [$1.4 million] Growing Communities Fund [from the province] to potentially offset some of this borrowing?”
Electoral Area E director and finance committee chair Andrew Fall asked if the $6.4 million is not required, is the regional district getting the money and incurring costs, or is it drawing on that and not incurring costs if it is not used.
Greenan said the bylaw allows the regional district to borrow up to $6.4 million, so the regional district just draws on it as needed.
“If we have other funding, we could just not borrow the whole $6.4 million,” said Greenan. “Under the Growing Communities Fund, waste management facilities are an eligible cost, so it is a possibility we could use all or part of that funding towards this and that would definitely bring down our cost of borrowing.”
Greenan said there is no more borrowing beyond the $11.9 million that is being contemplated or has been approved for the resource-recovery centre and waste-transfer station project.
The finance committee unanimously carried a motion to send the borrowing bylaw to the regional board for first three readings.
