The District of Squamish will start the process of borrowing $20 million to build a Public Works Facility it deems critical.
“The decision to build the facility has been made. What is outstanding is the determination of the funding mechanism for its replacement,” says a staff report to Council.
After the District failed to gain the go-ahead from the community in an Alternate Approval Process (AAP) in 2021, it plans to start the second AAP process soon.
The AAP process is a form of approval that gives local residents say on a project where a municipality is moving forward with borrowing significant amount of money. If more than 10% of the electors disapprove, the Council can’t go ahead with the project, which is what happened last year when the District tried to borrow money for the public works building.
Now, the District is restarting the second AAP process and plans to borrow $20,202,020 for a new public works facility. The Council directed the staff on April 5 to conduct a second AAP to fund the facility through borrowing, though confirmation on the AAP scheduled dates are established by the Ministry and confirmation is forthcoming.
The District is also planning community engagement sessions in the coming few months to explain how critical building a new facility and a failure to borrow would mean an increase in taxes for residents.
“Borrowing is a valuable and effective capital financing option for municipalities which can be utilized to spread out the cost of the project over the project’s useful life and allows its costs to be paid not just by today’s taxpayer, but by future users as well,” says District Communications Manager Christina Moore.
The second AAP will be followed by a referendum on October 15 if it fails. Council will further discuss this at Tuesday’s meeting.
