Had the Lake Country mayor and council really wanted to find out if the residents were in favour of borrowing money to purchase the portion of the rail line that runs through Lake Country they would have handled this matter in a far different manner. First of all they would have informed all residents of the municipalities financial status, $11.4 million in debt and another $160 million of identified infrastructure requirements on the books with no funds available to act on.
Secondly they would have been honest with the cost to each home owner, they claim a 1.68% property tax increase but that will only pay off the first $2.6 million of the loan. There will be a second tax increase required to pay off the Kelowna loan, anyone who tells you differently is not being honest. Kelowna is lending $2.5 million but there has been a play with the wording in a feeble attempt to cover up this second loan.
This should have gone to referendum, they claim it isn't being done due to time constraints but they have been negotiating this purchase for many months and should have had it placed on the recent municipal election ballot at no additional cost but they chose not to. They have chosen the one method that stacks the deck in their favour, the alternate approval method. The cable companies used the same method many years ago to add channels and cost to cable subscribers without consultation and unless you noticed your bill had increased and called to say you didn't want to continue subscribing to those channels they stayed on your bill, the federal government ruled it was illegal. Unfortunately it hasn't been ruled illegal for governments to use a slightly modified version of this cheesy tool that is used to ram their agendas through without fairly consulting the constituents.
As they are only offering the alternate approval method where each person must make their own effort to obtain a petition and then sign and mail it back the municipality should have mailed a petition to each household. The cost would have been about $1 per home, which would have ended up costing $5000 - $6000 and would have made it more convenient for residents to voice their disapproval but council doesn't really want to hear any disapproval. If they try to say $5000 - $6000 is too expensive then they most certainly should not be entertaining taking on another $5.1 million in debt.
Lake Country residents need to look at this closely, why has pertinent financial information been held back? Why is your mayor and council seeking permission to borrow $2.6 million when they are clearly borrowing $5.1 million? Why have you been told it is only a 1.68% tax increase when that will only pay off the first half of the loan, what happens when Kelowna asks for their loan with interest to be repaid? Given our dismal state of financial affairs it will have to be another tax increase so the real tax increase to each home owner for this purchase will be more than double what they have told you.
What would you do if you were buying a used car and discovered the seller was hiding issues and misrepresenting others, most people would pass on the purchase and you should do the same. Lake Country is in a financial mess, just because the mayor and council can't see it doesn't mean the public can't demand fiscal responsibility by picking up and signing the petition against going further into debt for a needless purchase. Has society gotten so soft that you can't go hiking unless it's on an expensive designated trail?
Guy Bissonette