Clock running for those opposed to borrowing $23 mil for new protective services building

Town council has given first reading to borrowing $23 million to development a new protective services building.

The public now has the opportunity to petition the town to conduct a plebiscite on the borrowing. It must be presented to the town within 15 days from the date of its last publication in a local newspaper.

The town is financing the entire project from debt, with repayment expected to come from a combination of tenant lease revenue, off-site levies, and property taxes. 

The funds would be borrowed for 25 years, which matches the term of the lease with the RCMP, and estimated to cost no more than $1,463,867 a year. The bylaw states the interest rate cannot exceed four per cent. The interest rate and payment schedule won't be finalized until the loan proceeds.

Katherine Van Keimpema, general manager of corporate services, says she doesn't anticipate the town borrowing the funds until late 2022.

She says the current interest rate from the Alberta Capital Financing Authority is 2.232 per cent but subject to change.

The second and third reading is expected to be given by town council on Mar. 22. Thirty days later the bylaw would come into effect.