A commentary by a Victoria taxpayer.
Several million dollars have already been spent on project planning, feasibility studies, reports and consulting fees for the new Crystal Pool under the watch of the former Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps and council.
Now the current mayor and council wants us to believe that a new Crystal Pool can be built for $209.2 million or more, depending on which site the pool is built on.
If you have been paying close attention to large building projects throughout the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, you will find that many of these projects ended up being double or triple the cost that was originally quoted.
Although there has been no mention by the mayor about skyrocketing construction prices, I believe that the taxpayers of Victoria could end up being on the hook for more than half a billion dollars when all is said and done, given the number of years before the pool is completed which is potentially as far forward as 2031 or 2032.
So, what can be done to lower the cost of building the new pool?
We do not need a dynamic, lavish, exciting, one of a kind or state-of-the-art facility. It is this type of extravagant thinking that is crippling the taxpayers’ ability to pay.
Although it would be nice to have, we don’t need a movable bulkhead, a lazy river, a half size gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms for dance, wellness and art activities, a seniors’ room or a community gathering place.
There are other venues where these activities can take place. By removing these nice-to-have features the city could potentially save tens of millions of dollars.
What we do need is a well-built functional swimming pool that serves the needs of the users, not a recreation facility with all the bells and whistles. A large number of taxpayers simply cannot afford these add-on costs.
We need accountability that has been in such short supply for the past 10 years. This accountability report needs to be readily available for all taxpayers to read on a regular basis.
The first accountability report needs to come out well before the referendum is mailed out. The taxpayers’ yearly assessment dollar amount must be the same for everyone. Not a statement that the “average residential taxpayer” will see a $64 annual increase to the property tax bill.
When the referendum is held next year, please think carefully of the potential impact this will have on your household budget should the costs escalate by two or three times the estimated budget.
Lastly, I hope the mayor and council have learned from the botched new bridge project that we should never again order any structural steel from China.
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