A retired Barrhead resident is hoping town council will take a second look at the aquatic centre.
If they don’t, he has started a petition in an effort to force the town to delay, or even shelve the project altogether.
That is, Chuck Hambling said, if he can find others like himself who have concerns that the Town of Barrhead is biting off more than they and the residents can afford.
“I want everyone to know that I am not against a pool,” he said. “I think the kids need it, but I have serious concerns about the proposed aquatic centre.”
The main concern Hambling has is the cost of facility, not only to build, but to maintain.
“No matter how you look at it,” he said, “It’s going to cost a million dollars just to maintain the pool. If we receive $500,000 of revenue that still leaves $500,000 that we the taxpayers have to pay.”
According to Hambling’s calculations, that means every person in the Town of Barrhead is on the hook for an extra $110 every year for the life of the building. That is assuming the maintenance costs of the pool stay the same.
He said operating budgets of any facility tend to increase over the years, due to inflation and the added costs of keeping up an aging facility.
Hambling based his numbers on the draft budget the Town of Barrhead gave to Woodlands County and was published in the March 10, 2015 issue of the Barrhead Leader. On top of the operational costs, the taxpayers will have to cover the payments on the $5 million debenture the town is taking out to help pay for the construction costs.
Kathy Vickery, Barrhead’s Director of Finance and Administration, said in a telephone interview with the Leader, that homeowners can expect an extra $58.92 per $100,000 of accessed value on their property taxes that will be devoted to paying for the debenture.
“The number is based on the current interest rate (2.089) per cent with Alberta Capital Finance and the town’s 2015 taxable assessment,” she said.
Hambling also questioned the result of the town’s 2014 plebiscite question: “Subject to fundraising $1,000,000 from other sources, do you support the Town of Barrhead borrowing up to $7,000,000 to finance the $15,000,000 new aquatic centre, with the understanding that it will result in an estimated tax increase of $95 for every $100,000 in property assessed value and the project will not proceed unless the County of Barrhead supports the project at 50 per cent of the costs?” The results were 67 per cent in favour of supporting the project. Since the plebiscite the construction cost for the aquatic centre have gone down to an estimated $13 million.
“In my mind they asked if the county pays for half of it do you want a pool?” Hambling said, adding at the time the town hadn’t asked the county if they would pay for half. “People thought that the county had already committed to it, but they hadn’t.”
He added that he wasn’t surprised the majority of residents voted in favour of the pool when the wording of the question is taken into consideration.
“If you put the plebiscite to the people saying that the county is going to pay for half of it, people will say yeah we can do this thing, it’s not so bad,” Hambling said, adding that is not what is happening.
Although the town and county will contribute to the capital costs equally, both taking out $5 million debentures, Hambling said the costs of maintaining the facility will fall to mainly the taxpayers of the Town of Barrhead.
“If the people of Barrhead are as concerned as I am, please get ahold of me. I have paid a lawyer to go over the wording of the petition question. That is my contribution,” he said, adding that the petition question was signed off by the lawyer and he is currently going around town asking people to sign the petition.
However, Hambling is hoping to get some help in circulating the petition.
“I need about 10 people who are willing to canvas their neighbourhoods and collect signatures,” he said, adding that 450 signatures are needed, but he is hoping to gather more. “If the people of Barrhead are as concerned as I am then sign the petition. If I don’t get enough signatures then so be it, but I don’t think that will be the case.”
Hambling emphasized that he isn’t against building an aquatic centre only that he wants to have one that the residents can afford.
“I am not upset with anybody or have a vendetta, but I think we should have another look and revisit the issue,” he said, adding that time is of the essence.
Barrhead town council has set the time for passing second and third reading of their borrowing debenture bylaw for Friday, June 26 at noon, however any petition has to be submitted to the Town of Barrhead’s chief administrative officer by Wednesday, June 24th by 4:30 p.m.
If you would like to help Hambling circulate the petition contact him at 780-674-6315 or by email at [email protected].
