CURRENT Terrace city council members (and even those who are now candidates in hopes of becoming first-term council members) can be forgiven for thinking they may need chestwaders soon, considering the fiscal waters associated with the Terrace Co-op lands keep rising.
The $1 million price tag paid by the council of the day back in 2005 and then the nearly $370,000 to demo the former retail centre building was one thing, but now the ongoing expense of dealing with whatever contaminants may be below the surface in order to get an environmentally clean bill of health to fully sell a large portion of the lands on Greig Ave. to a Calgary hotel developer is another thing altogether.
Although the city may have received nearly $200,000 in senior government grants so far to offset what it’s spent on environmental investigation work (and two thumbs up to the city for getting that money) council two weeks ago reluctantly is now dipping into its own bank account for a further $69,000 for more work. It hopes to double that amount through another grant but after having once used city accounts, the temptation to do so again for this property may be impossible to resist.
And that’s simply because the city needs the work done in order to sell the land.
But whether the whole project will ever be considered a benefit to taxpayers? That’s a question still several years from being answered.
Editorial, The Terrace Standard, Oct. 15, 2014