KAMLOOPS COUNCIL faced the age-old conundrum this week — pay now or pay later?
Council was debating a suite of proposals from staff to knock down the projected tax increase from north of 9 per cent to about 7-and-a-half.
That’s no small potatoes for most of us.
The most significant portion of that saving would come from delaying the city’s debt servicing payments on the loan for building a new RCMP detachment.
That project has gained the favour of council but not the public, who will need to make their feelings known on borrowing $150 million for the project.
An alternative approval process is likely coming down the pipe in the coming months.
As representatives of the local populace, councillors should give money-saving opportunities every consideration.
However, are those savings more valuable to the city this year or in the coming years?
The debate was crystalized by an exchange between Councillors Stephen Karpuk and Katie Neustaeter.
Karpuk spoke strongly against deferring expenditures to coming years, saying that philosophy of ‘kicking the can down the road’ in favour of short-term savings is what hamstrings future councils — and thus, future taxpayers.
Almost nothing in this world is getting cheaper as time goes by, so often, the most cost-effective time to make an expenditure is right now.
Neustaeter noted the public hasn’t even had a chance to weigh in on the borrowing, so enacting a plan to start making debt payments is premature.
She also argued Kamloops residents are already being hit with huge tax burdens from the senior levels of government, so a city tax increase shouldn’t compound that.
Both councillors made excellent points, staking out ground on either side of an issue local representatives have long grappled with.
In this case, though, the items being deferred should not be significantly more expensive next year than this year, so council’s decision to put them forward to give us a break this year should be welcome news for all of us.
——
Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.
