Moncton City Council is one step closer to achieving the goal of a downtown events centre.
Today they approved an application to the Municipal Capital Borrowing Board for 95.4 million dollars.
“We expect that of the 95.4 million dollar cost of the project, that the City of Moncton will be financing something in the range of 38.9 million dollars,” says Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc.
LeBlanc says this is an important step without which the project would have been dead in the water.
“What this motion today does is allow Council to move forward, but no final decision has been made,” says LeBlanc. “No money will be spent unless and until approved by Council but we have some significant decisions to be made between now and August 4th.”
LeBlanc says they plan to only spend 39.4 million dollars, the remainder will come from the federal and provincial government, as well as a capital campaign and the sale of ancillary land.
Meanwhile, not everyone was as enthusiastic about the project as the Mayor, with Councillor Brian Hicks one of two dissenting votes.
Hicks says he is worried about the possibility the project will cost more money than has been estimated.
“Many Councillors have brought up the fact they’re only prepared to go to 39 million dollars and not a cent more than that, so how do we guarantee that,” says Hicks.
Hicks says he wants guaranteed money, that is, a cheque they can cash, not money from the so-called shell game.
“City Chief Financial Officer John Martin couldn’t even tell us whether the Build Canada money was new money, the mayor asked the question a year ago,” says Hicks. “We need new money.”
He says this can’t be just money we would get from the Gas Tax or from Build Canada.
