|
On Monday evening, Nanaimo city council voted to formally abandon the $90 million borrowing bylaw for an updated public works yard after the Alternative Approval Process (AAP) failed to get elector assent with 8,655 eligible voters in Nanaimo submitting a response form in opposition to the loan.
“I must say for what it's worth, obviously disappointing,” Nanaimo mayor Leonard Krog said, adding that the project is still necessary and that it is “in the public interest to have it proceed.”
A staff report from the city’s deputy corporate officer Karen Robertson outlined two options for council.
Option one would be for council to abandon the borrowing bylaw and direct staff to report on alternative ways to complete the public works project. The second option would be to proceed to a referendum for the loan.
Council voted unanimously to not proceed to a referendum at this time. This means that the current proposal for a long-term loan to fund the Public Works Yard project is dead, but the city could choose to pass a new borrowing bylaw for a future referendum after six months has passed.
Councillor Ian Thorpe said he agreed that the project “is absolutely necessary and needs to move ahead.” His initial reaction to learning that the AAP had been defeated was to proceed to a referendum on the existing bylaw but provincial legislation would require a referendum to take place within 80 days from the close of the AAP voting period, which would place it in mid-January.
“We're looking at the Christmas holiday season, we're looking at staff that are already facing extra burden with the budget talks that we're undergoing right now,” Thorpe said. “So that being the case, I'm convinced to go along with the recommendation to abandon this bylaw. Hopefully, in six months time, [we can] pick up the torch again and hopefully the electorate at that time will be happy.”
Councillor Paul Manly pointed out that the Alternative Approval Process is unique to British Columbia and that municipalities in other provinces can apply to the provincial government for a loan without getting assent from the electorate.
“It's great that you have an opportunity here to have a democratic voice,” he said. “The people have spoken about this. But this is a necessary project, and this Public Works Yard is well overdue for being rebuilt. We have cinder block construction that will crumble in an earthquake.”
Manly said that the city is the “fourth emergency responder” in the event of a disaster like an earthquake.
“Heaven help the folks that live downhill from a broken sewer main or water main if the city's busy digging without their own workers,” he said.
Councillor Sheryl Amstrong asked city staff if taxes could be raised by five per cent each year on top of the regular tax increase, which is currently proposed to be an 8.7 per cent hike next year, to save for the project without a loan. This would raise about $7 million a year and would take 15 to 20 years to save for the Public Works Yard project.
Laura Mercer, the city’s general manager of corporate services, responded that the faster a project can be completed the less expensive it will be. She said that several years of a five per cent tax increase would be “quite a burden to the taxpayers” and borrowing is a more affordable option for most people.
The next regular city council meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 16.
|
