Local politicians still have hope for the Greater Vernon Cultural Centre despite a widened funding gap, which staff say won't be filled by following the current plan for the project.
The future of the $44.7 million project remains uncertain, with the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee (GVAC) deciding at a special meeting Wednesday, July 24 not to immediately commit to a specific plan of action, instead requesting that Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) staff take the next few weeks to gather more information and report back.
Tannis Nelson, RDNO manager of culture and community services, gave the committee members a summary of the project's current fundraising efforts, saying with only $5 million raised so far, there is a shortfall of $11.7 million.
Nelson requested that GVAC decide how to move forward with the project, presenting three options: to seek voter approval for a third time to borrow more money to cover the shortfall; to cancel the project and look for other ways to fill infrastructure needs; or to continue with the project as is.
Nelson said the third option of staying the course is not recommended by staff, who have "confirmed in our minds that we're not going to be able to close that (funding) gap based on our original fundraising and grant targets."
She said if the option to scrap the project is chosen, "infrastructure needs aren't going to disappear," as the Museum and Archives of Vernon will still be significantly short on space at its current location, for instance.
Committee members won't make a decision on the project until they get more information from staff at another meeting in mid-August, but the members did not appear to be in favour of cancelling the project; there appeared to be much more interest in choosing the first option to borrow more money.
Stephen Banman, RDNO general manager of finance, told the committee that borrowing the estimated $12 million needed would result in taxpayers paying $25 more per household each year for 20 years. That's on top of tax increases already resulting from the $28 million that has already been approved to be borrowed.
Coldstream mayor and GVAC member Ruth Hoyte said the project has been a "very frustrating process" over the past six years. She suggested it may be time for a public fundraising campaign to be launched. Several other committee members agreed with this approach over the course of the meeting, including Coldstream Coun. Jim Garlick, who said a "multi-pronged" approach is needed. Garlick pointed out that the public has voted in support of the project twice in the past, once via referendum to borrow $25 million in 2018, and again via an alternate approval process in 2022 to borrow $28 million for a revised, scaled-down version of the building after key grants were not secured.
Committee members Victor Cumming and Brian Quiring both expressed a desire to find out exactly how much needs to be raised before making a concrete decision on how to proceed, and especially before heading to a referendum or alternate approval process to get voters' assent on borrowing more money.
"There are some significant omissions from the budget," Quiring said. "Like, bonding is going to be a half million dollars and (the project) won't move forward without bonding. It's important we get to the real number, because if we're short again, we're going to have a problem."
Quiring, however, did bring some optimism to the discussion.
"I've been in significantly worse shape than this," he said. "We were in significantly worse shape with Kal Tire Place North, and we came out on budget."
To date, about $200,000 has been spent on design, geotechnical, environmental and other fees, and Nelson said the next step would be to take on design development.
