CITY COUNCIL – $40 million ‘line of credit’ won’t affect property taxes
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
The City will borrow up to $40 million to tide it over until property taxes are collected later this year but council was told Tuesday (March 10, 2026) it amounts to a line of credit rather than a typical loan.
And, City council was told, property taxes won’t be affected.
Council approved the borrowing on the advice of staff, who noted there is an almost six-month delay between the start of the City’s fiscal year and tax collection May to July.
“This delay significantly impacts the City’s ability to pay employees and vendors,” a report from corporate services director Dave Hallinan stated.
“In the past, the City could rely on significant investments tied to reserves for future operational expenditures and capital projects. As the City has begun using reserves to lower tax rates and has begun to implement high cash flow projects, the purchasing and selling of investments cannot continue to absorb the revenue timing delays.”
The borrowing is for operational expenses only, he said.
The Community Charter allows municipal councils to borrow under such circumstances without asking voters for approval.
While such borrowing is not uncommon in Kamloops, the amount has raised some eyebrows in the community. The City’s short-term borrowing limit from 2014 through 2017 was $6 million a year. In 2020 it went up to $15 million due to COVID-caused delays in tax collection.
Revenue manager Lewis Hill told council there’s some cushion in the $40 million figure and it’s not expected all of it will be used. He explained it’s based on monthly expenses and is comparable to a line of credit to be used as needed.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Why didn’t City Hall budget properly? We’re not talking about unexpected costs here: this is about meeting payroll and paying suppliers.
Any taxpayer operating on such a basis would soon lose their home. It seems city managers think they can draw on a bottomless pit of money to make up for their egregious miscalculations.
Hallinan, Hill and company saying the city might not require the whole $40 million seems specious. The number has to be pretty close to that or they wouldn’t be requesting it.
They must know this huge loan will have to come out of next year’s budget. What a legacy to leave the next council.
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This entirely misses the point. The Mayor was the only one to ask the question every other councillor should have asked – why did we get here in the first place?
Not the lengthy explanations on interest rates and budgets. That all may make sense and it’s fiscally advantageous to do all of that, but it seems to have gone over everyone’s heads on council other than the Mayor that YOU DON’T NEED A LINE OF CREDIT IF YOU AIN’T BROKE. The fiscal acumen of a teenager…
Council is a rubber stamp for the administration, which is clearly the real source of power. It’s the administration that is pulling the strings. Let’s elect some new faces serious about cleaning out the rot.
NO INCUMBENTS 2026.
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Poor planning in my opinion and council should have said something and NOT again take management’s advice. They are spending mega without truly being aware of its consequences. Taxes will be of course affected, one way or another.
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