Port Moody council is borrowing $10.5 million to fix city infrastructure.
The temporary borrowing bylaw takes advantage of the Municipal Finance Authority's temporary borrowing program to lock in the loan amount once the projects are complete and the true cost is known.
A staff report presented at Tuesday's council meeting notes it's "a way to manage the cash flow of construction without borrowing in advance monies that may not actually be required."
The money is needed to fund urgent repairs to city hall, the recreation complex and the Port Moody Arts Centre, as well as the Heritage Mountain bridge. The city has received provincial approval to borrow the money and, after a 30-day public comment window, will seek the necessary OKs from Metro Vancouver and Municipal Finance Authority boards.
Civic centre repairs are budgeted at $5.2 million, the recreation complex work at $3.58 million and the arts centre at $700,000 while the bridge repairs are estimated at $500,000. There is also a 5% contingency built in, which adds $525,000 to the total.
The bill comes after a January report catalogued the immediate and five-year repairs and maintenance needed on 21 city facilities; a subsequent report in April detailed extensive water damage at city hall and in other city facilities.
The arts centre repairs and Heritage Mountain bridge replacement are backlogged projects that have been delayed due to budget constraints but must be done now to prevent further deterioration.
Repaying the civic repairs loan will mean the $5-million recreation centre loan, which matures this year, will effectively be rolled over into the new $10.5-million borrowing for a term of up to 25 years at a cost of $625,000 annually. By repurposing the loan, the city won't have to add another tax levy.
At the council meeting, Coun. Rick Glumac voted against the borrowing bylaw, questioning why some of the repairs were being prioritized over a new Inlet Centre soccer field. His motion to dedicate previously budgeted money for the recreation centre repairs to the soccer field upgrades in 2017 was not supported by the rest of council.
"These improvements and repairs are absolutely essential to protect our assets for future generations," said Coun. Zoe Royer, noting the soccer field, Kyle Centre and library are all in need of work and further discussions on how to pay for those projects were expected to happen at Wednesday's finance committee meeting.
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