Uncertainty raises loan request amount
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After a long summer of anticipation, there’s still no word about whether or not the new Salt Spring library project will receive a $2 million federal grant for construction of a new library.
The delay has forced library board members to alter the terms of a borrowing bylaw slated for a proposed late fall referendum.
On Sept. 9, the Capital Regional District board approved the library board’s request to increase the maximum loanable amount from $4.8 million to $7.3 million.
The board also passed a motion to raise the library’s maximum yearly requisition to pay off the debt and fund services to just over $1 million.
Library board chair Tilly Crawley said the federal government’s delay has placed the building committee in a bind.
“We were told they are still considering the application, but we really felt we had to act,” she said last week.
Receiving the grant, she added, would “substantially reduce” costs to island taxpayers.
At this point it looks like a referendum could be held in late November or early December.
Robert Hobson, president of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, said B.C. is one of two provinces where groups are still awaiting word on federal infrastructure funding.
He suspects the delay is a result of the provincial government’s struggle to match the federal contribution.
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