(Image Credit: Curtis Goodrum / CFJC Today)

By Curtis Goodrum

$40 MILLION LOAN

Kamloops council set to decide on eyebrow-raising $40 million short-term loan

Mar 9, 2026 | 6:54 PM

KAMLOOPS – City of Kamloops staff are asking council for permission to borrow up to $40 million to cover its bills until property taxes are collected this summer.

Municipalities are allowed to borrow money in these situations, and the practice is not uncommon around B.C. through a practice known as revenue anticipation borrowing, the amount of the loan for a city the size on Kamloops is raising some eyebrows.

It’s not clear how much of the $40 million the city will actually use, though it expects to repay the loan in full when property tax revenue comes in. The city’s fiscal year starts in January but property taxes are typically collected six months later in July.

“We’re allowed to go up to 75 per cent of last year’s taxes, which is $121 million. We chose $40 million as a very safe number,” Dustin Rutsatz, the city’s planning and procurement manager, said. “It’s in case we need it, in case some of the projects go ahead at full steam, and we need some spending before we start collecting our mid-year taxes.”

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In Surrey, a city over twice the size of Kamloops, a local bylaw implemented in 2020 limits this kind of borrowing to maximum of $50 million.

“The City of Kamloops should be really concerned about the scale of borrowing here. You shouldn’t have to tap your credit card to make those bill payments at the end of the month,” said Carson Binda, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s B.C. director.

The proposed borrowing is set to be discussed and voted on by Kamloops council at its meeting Tuesday (March 10). Deputy Mayor Stephen Karpuk told CFJC Today he is not worried about the borrowing and sees it as a necessity.

“Yes, there is some concern at council. This is also a carryover from AAPs that would have normally gone through in a standard year, but we didn’t do them because there was a court challenge,” Karpuk said. “That’s the cost of democracy. Unfortunately, the cost of democracy is going to be millions for us as a public.”

Representatives from Kamloops Citizens United (KCU) were not available for an on-camera interview Monday. They did send a statement to CFJC about the proposed loan.

“We recognize there is concern among some residents about the proposed $40 million borrowing authority, but there are still financial details that need to be clarified before drawing conclusions,” the statement said. “KCU has sent an email with questions to Financial Services Manager Lewis Hill while Chief Financial Officer, David Hallinan is out of the office until March 14.”

While there is hope that the city does not need to use the entire $40 million amount, Karpuk believes it’s better to be prepared.

“In the worst case scenario, we’d have to use all $40 million,” he said. “We need to be looking after the services in the city. We always want to prepare for the worst case scenario and not be surprised and go, ‘okay, now what?’”

Still, there are concerns that Kamloops is wasting resources on repaying the loan. The city borrows money from the Municipal Finance Authority of BC, which – as of publishing – charges 2.8 per cent interest for short-term loans.

“Every dollar that the city has to pay back in interest charges from these kinds of loans is money that’s not going towards core services – public safety, roads, and infrastructure that taxpayers and businesses rely on,” Binda said. “It’s money that’s going right out the door.”

Should the vote at council fails, the city could take money from its reserve investments, but Rutsatz says this a more fiscally responsible method.

“If we have those decisions of do we want to cash an investment in to cover this or take out a 2.8 per cent small short-term loan, sometimes it’s more advantageous to the city to take out the lower-interest return loan,” said Rutsatz.