By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle
Funding for water projects in the Town of Oliver, and in particular an aging irrigation facility, is set to rely less on loans and more on grant revenue after Council voted to move in a different direction on project financing.
The motion would see a percentage of borrowed money for the Irrigation Water System Rehabilitation Project be replaced with funds applied for through the federal-level Canada Community Building Fund (CCBF). Previous conversations about borrowing stemmed from talks over how to fund the Rockcliffe irrigation rehabilitation.
At the time, some Councillors indicated they would prefer not to borrow, given that the Town already has loan debt that is being serviced or paid down. The preferred option for Council was to try to fund as many of the rehabilitation projects as possible through available grant money.
A report by John Kurvink, the Town’s Chief Financial Officer, outlined two different paths the Town could take to reduce reliance on funding through borrowed money.
While the CCBF is a more “flexible” option, as noted by Kurvink’s report, the other option reviewed was the BC Growing Communities Fund, formerly known as the Gas Tax.
Kurvink additionally indicated to Council that other grants could still be a factor, pending the approval of the Town’s applications.
“We still have grants in play for Similkameen and Main Street, and there could be some other grants that we’re not aware of yet,” Kurvink said.
Including multiple grant options is an idea Councillor Terry Schafer lauded, noting that the Town might not get a full amount from one grant stream for their projects and that diverse funding paths offer more certainty.
“I don’t think we’re going to get a lot of whole grants – a lot of it’s going to depend on cost-sharing,” Schafer said. “So we should have some (capacity) to do 50-50 grants.”
The challenge with other grant streams is the restrictions surrounding what they can be used for. Staff determined that the Rockcliffe rehabilitation would not meet the criteria for Growing Communities Fund money.
Water Councillor Rick Machial reminded everyone that moving funding around, if necessary, could also still be considered.
“Part of the conversation before was… because you can’t use the Growing (Communities) Fund; there’s other ways to do that,” Machial said of moving funds. “When we talked about when all the work was being done by the co-op, there was $600,000. That would have been an opportunity there too.”
It was noted by Kurvink that the CCBF funding is “stackable”, which is why the staff recommendation was to only fund 50 per cent of the irrigation rehabilitation project through the CCBF, and look to cover the other 50 per cent through alternate means.
This allows Oliver to use the CCBF for other budget items, such as the reconstruction of 226 School Avenue, slated to occur in 2027.
The Town will have five years from the time of receiving the CCBF funds to allocate them towards all projects they will be used on.
