To the residents of Lumby who have been expressing concerns over the changes in Vernon Recreation changing their policies and pricing, Mayor and Council feel it is important that the facts be presented about what was proposed, and what the ultimate costs would have been to the residents of the Village of Lumby.
In March of 2022, Mayor Victor Cumming of Vernon attended a public Village of Lumby Council meeting to present a proposal for the new Vernon Active Living Centre. In this proposal, we were presented with an overview of what the project was, what it was expected to cost, and who it was expected to affect. The cost estimates at the time were based on 2020 numbers (before the effects of inflation and cost of materials during Covid had gotten severe), and showed the proposal costing just over $90,000,000. The quantity surveyors that were working with Vernon had already suggested adding 25% – 35% to the total, knowing that inflation was rising, and there were many unknowns in the actual cost. This would bring the expected cost to between $112,000,000 and $121,000,000 assuming current inflation and material costs remained stable.
The choices we were given by the City of Vernon were to either “buy in” to the new facility as a partner through the RDNO, to arrange a “fee for service” agreement after its construction, or to keep paying current rates at the door. Lumby would be responsible for just over 2% of the debt payments. The debt payments at the interest rates at the time (which have subsequently gone up) would have been $7,163,120, with Lumby having to pay $146,532 per year for 30 years. With just over 800 residential properties sharing that cost, it would have been an additional tax of $183.17 per residence per year for 30 years. Over the term of the loan, that would equate to almost $4.5 million in taxation from the Village of Lumby if interest rates had not gone up.
Mayor and Council acknowledge that the rise in rates affects our residents in the Village of Lumby, but adding a minimum of $200 per year in taxes to every household in the Village for 30 years was going to be a large tax burden on the residents With so many unknowns at the time, it had the potential to be much costlier than what was presented, so we made the decision based on the best information we had.
To see the presentation that was provided by Vernon, or to view the follow up report provided to council, please use the following links.
https://lumby.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/5551/?preview=5628
https://lumby.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/5555/?preview=5677
For anyone wanting to attend a regular Council meeting, they are always open to the public, and the agenda always includes an opportunity for the public to ask questions. Our meeting schedule, as well as the agendas showing what is being discussed can be found on the Village of Lumby calendar on our website: https://lumby.ca/events/
