ROTHENBURGER – Clearing up a few things about ‘Build Kamloops’ proposals

LET’S CLEAR UP a couple of very important points about the “Build Kamloops” project.

First, it will be put to the public for two separate decisions, not wrapped into one, as some have thought. That’s a fair way of doing it.

One alternate approval process form will be for the $140-million debt for the $154-million Centre for the Arts. A second form will ask if ratepayers want to borrow $135 million towards the “arena multiplex” on Hillside Drive and design of other projects. (Or, two questions could be put on one form.)

What happens if, for example, the arts centre gets the green light but the borrowing for the other projects don’t? The answer is that the City would have to borrow less and, therefore, the tax increase would be reduced accordingly.

City Hall has been promoting Build Kamloops as a $25 proposition. For just $25 a year for five years, the City says, Kamloops could get all these new facilities. But there’s more to it than that.

Certainly, for five years, taxes on the average Kamloops house would go up one per cent, or about $25. But each $25 would be on top of the previous $25. So year two would cost $50 more than today, year three $75 and so on, building to $125 more per year at the end of the five years.

That $125 per year would continue until year 30 when the debt would be retired. According to my calculations, it all amounts to $3,500 by the time the loan is paid for. Is that too much over 30 years?

In my view it’s not (and while I no longer pay City taxes I’ll be happy to donate what would have been my share because I would certainly use a performing arts centre and believe the other projects — while I’m not as enthusiastic about them — are good for Kamloops) but others will strenuously disagree and they shouldn’t be put down as having to “take their heads out of the sand or out of the weeds” (Coun. Katie Neustaeter, June 25, 2024). They’re residents and taxpayers who deserve more respect than that.

On the other hand, those who are skeptical of the plan should stay open minded until they have all the information they need.

If you’re still around 30 years from now, don’t expect your taxes to go down when the debt is paid off. City communications manager Kristen Rodrigue, who has been compiling the data and information for Build Kamloops, tells me, “That amount (the $125) will remain in your taxes in perpetuity, just like we’re still paying for any increases that were included in 2022 or 2023 as we pay our 2024 taxes.”

When will the question be put to taxpayers? Build Kamloops committee chair Mike O’Reilly doesn’t want it to get mixed up with the provincial election campaign (voting day is Oct. 19). When I talked to him at the open house in Kelson Hall last night he also acknowledged that running the counter petition during summer months when everybody’s at the beach or hiding in their houses with the blinds down and air conditioning turned up wouldn’t be a good idea either.

The AAP deadline, however, is expected to be sometime in September, depending at least partly on when the provincial government approves use of the AAPs. The writ for the provincial election drops Sept. 21. That means the AAP countdown would probably start in August before the kids are back in school and people start thinking about civic issues again.

That’s because once the trigger is pulled on the AAP, taxpayers have only 30 days to return their forms if they oppose either of the two loan bylaws. How they will receive their forms has yet to be determined — mailout, online, pick them up at designated locations?

I’m not a fan of using a counter petitions in this situation and, on another day, I’ll go into detail as to why that’s the case.

There some obvious imperfections in the plan and the process, including a serious shortage of parking. At the end of the day, the citizens of Kamloops have to decide if the imperfections are worth putting it to the sword or if they see the benefits regardless. In other words, will Kamloops be a better city with these facilities, or without them?

In the interests of information, I’ll publish elsewhere on this site my written questions to Kristen Rodrigue and her answers.

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 as well as a Wesbster Foundation’s Commentator of the Year finalist. 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.