Why I Will Be Voting "NO"

From the outset the cost sharing was slanted against those who live in Lake Country. With a total population of approximately 144,300 between Lake Country, Kelowna, and Coldstream the allocation of cost has been split very disproportionately. The agreement between the three jurisdictions states that the corridor is to be kept in perpetuity, meaning that it must be kept intact forever. If this is the case the division of cost should have been based on population and not on how many kilometres are located in each jurisdiction , this would have at least made the cost sharing an equal burden on each partner and possibly made it more palatable to Lake Country residents.

The populations of the three jurisdictions are roughly Kelowna 122,000 and Lake Country 12,000 and Coldstream 10,3000 for a total population of 144,300, the three jurisdictions are to split a total purchase  price of $14.5 million, the province has with much hoopla offered to return $7.2 million of our tax dollars to make up the balance. From here on I will only refer to the $14.5 million that the three jurisdictions are to split. The percentages for the population totals are Kelowna 85%, Lake Country 8% and Coldstream 7%.

Here in lies the unfair distribution of cost. Kelowna with 85% of the population pays $7.5 million which equates to only 52% of the purchase price. Coldstream with 7% of the population only is to contribute $1.9 million or 13% of the purchase price, unfair but not near as bad as the LC numbers. That leaves Lake Country with 8% of the population to pay $5.1 million which is 35% of the purchase price. Hardly equitable.

To put it in other terms the price being paid on behalf of each Kelowna resident is roughly $61.50 while the cost paid per Coldstream resident is $184 leaving the cost to each Lake Country resident to be $425 . There will be other costs to LC tax payers which I will address further on.

The next issue I have is with our LC elected officials who are only seeking permission to borrow $2.615 million when the agreement with Kelowna per LC council meeting minutes from December clearly shows that the Kelowna investment is merely a play with wording and the $2.5 million Kelowna investment is in fact a loan that we will have to start making payments with interest on commencing in 3 years. Our total loan obligation will be $5.1 million so why have our elected officials not disclosed this and have us vote on the full $5.1 million they want to borrow ? For now our officials want us to vote in favour of a 1.68% tax increase to fund the initial $2.615 million loan, the other shoe drops in 3 years when we will have to find funding for the $2.5 million loan that our officials have tried to hide from us, I guess that means they have another tax hike to fund this purchase in mind.

Then there is the two private properties that they neglected to inform us that LC will have to find funding for to purchase if the corridor is to have continuity, these are waterfront acreages and will cost many millions, where are these funds to come from? It makes me wonder if there are other costs they are deliberately not disclosing to the public for fear that it will cause more voters to disapprove the purchase.

Last week’s Lake Country Calendar carried an article showing that our municipality is $30 million behind on road maintenance and that we are falling behind at a rate of $2 million per year, the district is contemplating returning deteriorated asphalt roads back to gravel as they cannot afford to resurface properly. Some residents in our community live with frequent boil water advisories so obviously our we have need of water treatment facility upgrades.

We have numerous parks with waterfront access and many existing hiking trails so there is no real need for another hiking trail where as we clearly have serious infrastructure needs. I have two young children and teach them to manage their money responsibly and that they must prioritize their spending as do I. While I would dearly love to be driving a Mercedes I have to house, feed and clothe my children (look after needs before luxuries) and so instead I drive a Ford. If our governments took the same approach with our tax dollars as households must do with their earnings perhaps we wouldn’t be so far in debt.

I would like to close with a comment on Ron Seymour’s article from the April 10 newspaper, he is suggesting that the rest of the province will look unkindly on Lake Country residents should they vote this purchase down as they will somehow be funding it with their provincial tax dollars. The last time I checked Lake Country is still in the province and as such we all pay provincial taxes so some of those provincial tax dollars are ours. Should Kelowna purchase the entire Lake Country section our residents will still have the use of this trail and keep in mind LC residents all support the Kelowna economy in a big way as that is where the majority of LC residents do all their shopping. That is where we buy our new vehicles, appliances, furniture, clothing, bulk groceries and the list goes on, how many Kelowna residents support the LC economy, likely none as we don’t have the amenities to attract shoppers and if few more tourists come to the area Kelowna is where they will spend their money for the same reasons . I will be voting “NO”.

Janelle Marchand
Lake Country