Penticton’s Mayor says it's too early to say if a referendum will take place on a proposed new twin-rink arena on the South Okanagan Events Centre campus.

City council took the first decisive steps towards addressing the city’s arena challenges Tuesday by directing staff to craft a $6 million infrastructure grant application for the project. In doing so, they accepted the recommendations of the Arena Task Force.

“Now really it's all about trying to find a funding strategy, because it's a big gap, the loose number was $34 million, so even with a $6 million grant, it's a large nut to crack,” Andrew Jakubeit said on this week’s Mayor’s Minute.

“We need to find other funding partners to come to the table whether its service clubs or philanthropic people in the community,” he added.

Additional financial analysis and a more fleshed out business case will also need to be prepared. And the $6 million grant is far from a sure thing. 

“That obviously dictates how we move forward,” he said

“If we don’t have other funders coming to the table or a bunch more grants than it's going to be very difficult.”

If a local government wants to borrow money over a term longer than five years, it needs to get consent from the electorate through a referendum or alternate approval process. An AAP would require the municipality to state its intentions, which can be shot down or sent to a mandatory referendum if 10 per cent of the electorate voice opposition.

Both methods are commonly used. Prince George will vote in a referendum on a new $35 million pool and $15 million fire hall in October, while Smithers used the AAP to borrow $3 million for their airport in April.

“Depending on how big that impact is, and how many other players are jumping onboard to help fund it, and sort of the business case and rationale,” Jakubeit said “That will dictate how far we go with the electorate.”