A pot of money worth $3.9-million is coming to city council once an aged for the home loan is paid off in 2024.
During an At-large city council virtual town hall last week, Mark Bentz pointed out there are options after someone asked if that money could be used to reduce taxes. “The plan for it is to address the [$21-million] infrastructure deficit with it. So this would become, rather than debt repayment, it would become capital money.”
The city councillor noted, though, he is open to giving the money back to taxpayers, if that’s what the city wants to do.
Trevor Giertuga recalled a number of years ago when taxpayers were asked about financing the hospital. “We said ‘Will you be willing to pay $25-million over a 20-year span?’ They said yes. After that 20-years, they didn’t agree to just absorb it into the regular tax base.”
Councillor Bentz said it could be invested to keep infrastructure maintained.
