Regional district Thornhill residents and those in the surrounding rural area will be paying about one-third of the cost to be borrowed for the city’s aquatic centre renovations.
“It’s a go,” said regional district Thornhill director Ted Ramsey following approval given at a recent regional district meeting.
The city received $4.235 million in federal gas tax money to help pay for the aquatic centre project, which is estimated to cost about $8.8 million.
It’ll be borrowing a substantial amount of the remaining cost and Thornhill and surrounding rural area residents will contribute through taxes 31.5 per cent of the amount.
That’s the same ratio Thornhill and surrounding rural residents now pay for the centre’s annual operating costs.
That same ratio extends to the city’s overall recreation programs as well as for the Terrace Public Library.
Cost sharing is based on assessments of the city and the regional district, resulting in those parts of the regional district paying 31.5 per cent.
Debt repayments resulting from any borrowing for the project are considered operating costs and will be included in the annual cost sharing between the city, Thornhill and surrounding rural area.
Ramsey noted that part of the regional district’s approval of sharing borrowing costs was to request that the city consider a name change for the facility to reflect the broader community since usage and tax monies come from an area larger than just the city.
Jessica McCallum-Miller, the regional district director for the rural area surrounding Terrace, said she was really impressed that the city had secured $4.325 million in federal tax money, which was more than half the cost of the renovations, and so the regional district was happy to contribute.