Needed items squeezed out of city budget (PENTICTON)

Jan 12 2007 EDITORIAL http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/
Preliminary budget deliberations show the city in a bind from which it may not escape for several years, despite signs of prosperity everywhere. This conclusion may sound like a paradox. But the costs of growth have so far exceeded its returns. That is why a significant portion of the property tax hike proposed for this year will pay for the sustenance of existing services, not to mention funding new ones.

These pressures were inevitable and the South Okanagan Event Centre — and its price tag which rose from $56.1 million to $73.5 million — has made them worse. So the city’s budget is being squeezed from two separate, but converging directions. This reality, combined with the promise from Mayor Jake Kimberley that the city would not raise taxes to help pay for the cost escalation, has left council with little financial room in its budget. We harbour no doubt that the centre is a priority for the community and we are confident (based on the available evidence and predictions) that it will strengthen the local economy for generations to come.

But therein lies the problem — one which critics of the event centre pointed out in the days and weeks leading up to last year’s referendum. The SOEC is by no means Penticton’s only need as it tries to accommodate the pressures accompanying growth, such as rising housing costs, growing transportation needs as well as softer needs, such as recreation, arts programming and community promotion. Affordable housing, downtown revitalization, industrial improvement, tourism promotion and the restoration of Penticton Creek are but a few examples on the long list of worthy projects facing an uncertain future.

The good news is that none of the areas listed are in need of an immediate major infusion of cash. But funding will be needed — and with so many area worthy of support, it does not take long for it to add up to considerable expense for the city. Council now faces the monumental task — undeniably of its own making — of determining which projects can be scaled back, which can be delayed and where any additional sources of revenue may be found.

This job — neither enviable nor easy — will unfold in a climate ripe with suspicions about who knew about what leading up to the SOEC referendum and the ongoing controversy surrounding several development proposals. As the second public hearing on the Penticton Waterside Resort and Spa showed with great clarity, citizens are starting to lose trust in their elected officials and this could make the 2007 budget a tough sell.