City of Powell River councillors will receive a staff report on a request from qathet Regional District regarding funding for the final costs of the new resource recovery centre.
At the December 19 city council meeting, councillors considered a request from qRD chair Clay Brander for the city and regional district to use community works funds to pay for the final $2.5 million owing on the centre. Brander forwarded a motion from the regional board that stipulated a $1,298,535 community works fund contribution from the city and a $1,201,465 community works fund from the regional district. If the city and regional district use community works funds for the $2.5 million remaining on the centre, the two local governments would not have to borrow, saving taxpayers money.
City councillor Cindy Elliott, who sits as a city director on the regional board, said the board had deliberated long and hard about this matter.
“What they are asking of us is, given that the $2.5 million needs to be paid to finish the resource recovery centre, that they were offering an avenue to pay that out of the community works fund,” said Elliott. “They [the regional board] have proposed a split that is based on the area populations. The alternative would be borrowing the $2.5 million, which would create taxation for the city to pay off the exact same amount as what is in the letter.
“They are asking the city to put $1,298,535 of our community works funds toward this, rather than having them borrow and have to recoup that from taxpayers. Should we say no or not agree to send community works funds for our share, they would then put that to borrowing instead of using the community works fund.”
Councillor Trina Isakson said she would be interested in receiving a report from staff about the financial implications of the request. She made a motion that council refer Brander’s correspondence to staff for a report to council.
Councillor George Doubt, who recently resigned as a city director with the regional board, said he was on the regional board when the matter was being discussed.
“There’s a $2.5 million cost for the resource recovery centre and that will either be collected from this proposal, which is a suggestion that each local government use some community works fund money, or it will be recovered by taxes,” said Doubt. “That means people in the city will see an increase in taxes on their statement from the regional district. It’s worth getting a report from the city, explaining the various things. It is an opportunity to avoid $2.5 million in extra taxation in the region.”
Councillor Jim Palm said city taxpayers would be interested to know how much they are on the hook for the centre overall. He said his question to staff was, once council comes to grip with the funding, will the residents of the city be receiving information about the overall costing?
City chief financial officer Mallory Denniston said that would be a question for the regional district.
Councillors unanimously passed the motion for a staff report on the regional district request.
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