Kimberley has formally adopted a bylaw that would allow the city to borrow up to $35 million to help cover the cost of building the new wastewater treatment plant.
Mayor Don McCormick says the $90.6 million grant from the B.C. and federal governments does not cover the upfront cost of construction.
“We basically have to provide invoices as we go through the project, make periodic payments and make claims to get those payments back,” explained McCormick.
“The grant process does not allow for any cash flow management – that’s on the city. This temporary borrowing bylaw is to make sure we have enough cash on hand without it impacting our regular city operations.”
McCormick says the bylaw allows the city to take out loans as needed.
“Even though it’s up to $35 million, the amounts we will be borrowing will be much smaller than that,” said McCormick.
“We will only borrow what we need, we pay back the interest and when the project is completed we’ll basically get a debenture in place for the $26 million that is our share of the project.”
Discussions to rebuild Kimberley’s aging wastewater treatment plant began eight years ago.
“It feels like we’re now gaining momentum. We have a lot of engineering work and pre-construction work going on,” said McCormick.
“This current wastewater treatment plant is at the end of its life, so it is a requirement to replace it.”
There are no set construction dates yet, but McCormick is hopeful that shovels will hit the ground next summer.
“We need to account for new folks coming to town and we also need to make sure the new plant is not a danger to the floodplain that it was originally built on,” said McCormick.
“It will be exciting to get the project going and see it get completed.”
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