ROTHENBURGER – Can taxpayers be convinced to foot a $275 million bill for PAC Plus?

GO BIG OR GO HOME could be the slogan for plans to build more cultural and recreation facilities approved by Kamloops City council today (June 25, 2024).

Taxpayers will be asked to approve $275 million toward projects to be built over the next several years. The money will be used to build the long-talked-about Performing Arts Centre and an arena multiplex, as well as continue planning and design for several other projects.

But the ask for borrowing authority won’t come via a traditional referendum; rather, it will be done through an alternate approval process, commonly still known as a counter petition, with a still-to-be-announced timeline.

Instead of going to the polls and voting yes or no as they would in an election, they’ll either return forms to the City to indicate their opposition, or not return them, in which case they’ll be counted as being in support.

It’s a system usually reserved for essential infrastructure such as water and sewer plants and it’s risky when it comes to optional projects such as sports and cultural facilities. If 10 percent of the “no” forms are returned, the request fails.

The last time an AAP was used in Kamloops was for a proposed multi-storey parkade that would have been built on the parking lot in front of Riverside Park. A counter petition in October 2011 easily shot it down.

There’s a bit of a difference between the counter petition process of 2011 and the APP of 2024. Back then, actual petitions could be circulated by opponents for people to sign. Nowadays, response forms are made available for eligible electors to pick up and return. They can be single response forms or designed so that multiple electors can sign one form, so it amounts to the same thing.

Technically, if the 10 per cent threshold is reached, the City could then push ahead and hold a regular referendum but it’s unlikely that would happen. Coun. Mike O’Reilly already says one good reason for using the alternate approval process is to save the cost of having to set up polling stations. If the counter petition rejects the borrowing, the dream would probably be dead, well, maybe forever.

So what will electors be asked to approve? The PAC, or Kamloops Centre of the Arts, has ballooned in recent years from $70 million to $120 million and now $154 million, with $140 million of it coming from local taxpayers. That’s one loan authorization bylaw.

(City council already approved $7 million for design work, and spent just short of $5 million to purchase the old Kamloops Daily News property on Seymour Street as the site several years ago.)

A second loan authorization bylaw would be for $135 million to build a four-sheet arena multiplex at 2070 Hillside Drive near the main entrance to Kenna Cartwright Park. Actual project cost would be $140 million plus another $10 million to develop and design additional facilities including an indoor field house, leisure aquatic centre and a new curling rink and racquet courts.

Money would be borrowed in stages, with taxation boosted accordingly. Council was told today that the owners of an $800,000 home would face only a $25 annual tax increase each year for five years — presumably compounded.

Fundraising, senior-government grants and cash on hand would help make up the difference between borrowing and the actual cost.

Council members unanimously praised the plan and voted 9-0 in favour of the necessary borrowing bylaws. It’s good to see the council come on board after earlier reticence in the Ken Christian era but there will, naturally, be many questions.

Parking for the PAC is still a question, though City staff offer assurances there’s no shortage of downtown parking places. Never mind that as far back as 2000, the need for a third downtown parkade was identified.

The approval process itself will likely be controversial.

The big issue, though, will be the staggering $275 million number. As exciting as the prospect of all these civic amenities is, there will be a lot of explaining to do in order to convince taxpayers they really can afford it.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.