Council remains split on the issue of whether the municipality should borrow more than $1.9 million next year for street repairs.
At its Aug. 11 meeting, council approved a plan that could see the municipality borrow $1,905,839 to repave a two-block portion of Center Street and all of Eighth Avenue starting in 2016 if grant funds for the work are forthcoming. The two-year, $3.3-million project would also see curbs, storm sewers, and catch basins installed along both sections, limited repairs to water infrastructure and road bases, and the creation of one sidewalk along each route.
According to village officials, the project would require a one-time, 9.1-per-cent tax increase to cover annual debt servicing costs, which have been estimated at $115,635 per year for 25 years. It would also eat up the nearly $1 million donation the village received in 2014 from its municipally-owned corporation, Burns Lake Community Forest Ltd.
Municipal staff have suggested that the proposal, if approved, would only increase taxes by $67 on a home with an assessed value of $100,000. Yet that’s small consolation for at least one elected official.
Chris Beach, the lone member of council to vote against the proposal, is adamant that raising taxes by more than nine per cent would hit taxpayers hard. He also takes exception to the suggestion by coun. John Illes that he supported a similar proposal earlier this year.
“I have never supported borrowing this amount of money for Eighth Avenue,” Beach said last week. “I believe in doing something with Eighth Avenue, but in a fiscally responsible manner. I categorically deny supporting that motion, and I resent the inference that I did.”
The idea of borrowing heavily to repair Eighth Avenue and Center Street was discussed at council’s March 3, 2015 budget meeting. Beach says he clearly communicated his opposition to the plan at that time.
“A few months ago – and this is in the minutes in a public meeting – coun. Illes brought it (the idea of borrowing) up for a quick vote, and said: ‘Why don’t we borrow the $3 million now and just commit to it?’ Then we asked staff about it: ‘What if we borrow the money and then get the grant, can we use it?’ We (were told we) wouldn’t be eligible for the grant.
“So I asked questions right away, and (said) I absolutely and categorically will not support this. We had a vote. Everybody voted against it – the same thing that we voted for, minus the Comfor money. So it’s in the minutes, the same option, the $3 million option, and all of council voted against it, except I’m assuming coun. Illes, because he made the motion.”
Beach added that contrary to statements made at the Aug. 11 meeting, the village’s current municipal objectives do not commit council to borrowing heavily for street repairs.
Those objectives, which are printed on every council agenda, state that the village will invest in new and existing infrastructure “in a fiscally responsible manner.” The objectives specifically include a reference to the Eighth Avenue/Center Street corridor project, but only the two-block portions of Eighth Avenue and Center Street leading from Hwy. 16 to the Lakes District Hospital & Health Centre.
Mayor Luke Strimbold, who supported the Aug. 11 motion to borrow funds if necessary to repair all of Eighth Avenue and a portion of Center Street, confirmed that council did consider borrowing money earlier this spring to complete some of the work.
He stressed, though, that the March 23 motion referred to by Beach – which was moved and seconded by councillors Illes and Schienbein, respectively – only requested that staff prepare a report on the possibility of using debenture funds to replace Eighth Avenue.
“The motion for that report, B-2015-03-03:20, was defeated, and the report was never created,” Strimbold said. “To clarify, that motion was to explore the possibility of borrowing the funds to replace Eighth Avenue as part of the 2015 budget, and using the grant funding to pay the funds back should the grant be received. It was defeated because the village would not qualify for the grant if the funds had already been borrowed.”
Strimbold said he has already received feedback from taxpayers on council’s proposal to borrow $1.9 million for street repairs. It’s important, he said, that council consider that feedback.
“I have received some feedback supporting the direction of council and some feedback with questions and concerns,” he said. “It will be important for council to review the feedback, because at the end of the day, the taxpayers will have a say whether we borrow money or not through the referendum or alternative approval process.”
Councillor Susan Schienbein, absent from the Aug. 11 meeting, deferred comment on the issue.
Earlier this spring, council applied to federal government’s Strategic Priorities Fund for $2.833 million to complete Phase 1 of the Eighth Avenue/Center Street corridor project, which involves the rebuilding of Eighth Avenue from Babine Lake Road to Center Street, and Center Street from Eighth to Tenth avenues. It could be mid-September before the municipality learns if its grant application for Phase 1 of the Eighth Avenue/Center Street corridor project is approved.
If the village elects to borrow funds for the work, it must first pass a borrowing bylaw. Under B.C.’s Community Charter, that bylaw will require the approval of Burns Lake voters.