Decision as to how council will pay for contribution won’t come until the spring

Published November 27, 2009 in The Truro Daily News

TRURO – Colchester County has tentatively approved spending $14.4 million as the municipality’s contribution towards a new regional civic centre.
“Wow,” Mayor Bob Taylor responded immediately after a resounding unanimous vote to more than double the county’s contribution, after it was recently learned the estimated cost of the proposed facility had increased to $49.9 million.
“This is definitely a legacy vote,” Coun. Mike Cooper said during discussion on the issue, regardless of which way council decided.
But he suggested it would be better to be remembered for creating a facility that would be a community centrepiece for decades to come rather than be recalled as the council that prevented the project from moving ahead.
Council’s decision, which is to receive official approval at the Dec. 10 council committee meeting, is dependent upon a $10-million contribution from the federal government and a 40 per cent share ($9.6 million) of the municipal contribution from the Town of Truro.
The county had earlier committed to funding 6.6 million of the project (based on a 60 per cent municipal contribution) while Truro had committed to contributing $4.4
million.
The province of Nova Scotia has also committed to contributing $10 million, while the citizen-led civic centre committee is on the hook for $5 million.
ACOA is also expected to contribute $855,000.
A decision on how council is going to pay for its contribution is not expected until it completes its budget deliberations in the spring. Several options presented to council Thursday night, however, show residential tax rates increasing annually from a low of 3.7 cents per $100 of assessment to a high of 6.1 cents per 100 of assessment.
With the average residential assessment listed at $86,100, those rates equate to an average household increase of between $31.35 and $52.50 per year for 20 years.
But while several councillors expressed concern for how that might impact low- and fixed-income residents, they said the overall response from constituents is that the project should proceed.
“I look at this as an investment,” said Coun. Jimmy LeFresne. “This is what we need for our community. It is an investment, not an expenditure. Even though you are asking for more than 50 per cent in funding, this is still a good buy.”