LETTER – Questions about the City’s short-term borrowing of $40 million
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
Dear Mayor and Council,
We are writing to seek clarification regarding Revenue Anticipation Borrowing Bylaw No. 66-5, which would authorize up to $40 million in short-term borrowing and is scheduled to come before City Council on March 10, 2026.
It is understood that temporary borrowing early in the year is a tool municipalities may use to address timing-related cash-flow needs until property tax revenues are collected. However, the size of the borrowing authority being discussed is significantly higher than in previous years.
City documents show the City adopted Revenue Anticipation Borrowing bylaws in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, each authorizing borrowing of up to $6 million. In 2020, the limit was increased to $15 million to protect the City’s cash flow due to expected delays in property tax and utility payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With that context, we would appreciate your response to the following questions:
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What factors explain the much higher borrowing limit being proposed compared to previous years?
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To what extent are expenditures related to major capital projects affecting the City’s early-year cash-flow and temporary borrowing needs?
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What is the City’s most current projection of its cash position at the lowest point in 2026, before property taxes are collected?
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How do current reserve balances and reserve investments available for early-year expenses compare to the City’s position in 2020 and subsequent years?
Thank you for your time,
COLEY ECKER and KATHRINE WUNDERLICH
Kamloops Citizens United
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I would have hoped that CEO McCorkle, for his $300K+ salary, would at the very least ensure robust fiscal management of tax funds. Instead, the city is walking down to the strip mall for a payday loan to the tune of $40 million. This is completely outrageous. Why that outrage hasn’t spread further is confusing. Canadians in general are polite soft and apologetic sleepwalkers with an apparent endless tolerance for self-inflicted pain.
This year you will have an opportunity to kick these fools out on their butts. If you like seeing your taxes skyrocket every year, vote again for the people who got us here.
NO INCUMBENTS 2026.
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Good luck getting any answers. In my experience, city hall chooses to simply ignore uncomfortable questions. The waste of taxpayer money this term is well documented: for instance, paying a design firm $7 million only to find out that the firm did not account for the slope of the site, resulting in an extra $65million cost for the PAC. Shelling out $7+ million for the Northbridge property only to lease it to ARPA for $10 for the next 65 years. And so on.
Borrowing $40 million from next year’s budget will likely result in an even larger deficit position next spring. What a terrible legacy to leave the next council. I’m amazed any of the current councillors want to run again and have to deal with this self-inflicted shortfall. In my opinion, the city’s CFO and CAO should be fired for this fiscal mismanagement, and none of the current councillors should be re-elected.
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thumbs up BBS.
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