Spend almost $12 Million on Centennial Square upgrade or invest more to upgrade the dreadful city roads
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of the story indicated costs of Centennial Square upgrade were estimated at $10 Million. The City has confirmed with Grumpy$ it’s $11.950 Million total – 2024 ($750,000), 2025 ($7 Million), 2026 ($2,200,000), and 2027($2 Million).
The proposed funding strategy for the next five years would result in property taxes in the City of Victoria increasing about 50 per cent, and would be deadly for many residents and businesses.
During the next five years a proposed funding strategy has increases of 8.37-10.09-9.55-8.90-8.18 percent that include significant hikes in capital funding. Importantly those projections exclude compounding and hold the VicPD budget at a 2.4 percent increase annually from 2025-2028.
It’s unknown if projections include outsized capital expenditures such as a new Crystal Pool, Regional Library or replacement of an aging city hall.
“Councils seem to start each budget cycle with extra high draft budget projections, exaggerated difficulties, feign listening to the taxpayers, trim the budget a bit – and then carry on as if in a script,” says John Treleaven, chair of Grumpy Taxpayer$.
“It’s much like a classical form of Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with traditional dance. But a unique feature of a kabuki performance is that what is on show is often only part of an entire story (usually the best part).”
The best part is how we got to where we are.
One of the main reasons the city budget is stretched is because past administrations failed to adequately fund roads, the sewer system, storm drains and much of the aging infrastructure. The time has come to pay for the neglect, unfortunately at a time when labour and material costs have escalated dramatically, says Treleaven.
“Incredibly the city has already spent $750,000 to cover consulting and design fees for Centennial Square. Now it wants to spend $9.645 Million in 2025, and an unknown amount in 2024, 2026 and 2027-28, according to the 2024-28 Financial Plan. A request for proposal has already been issued and closes Dec. 7.
“In our view, for example, the renewal of Centennial Square should be delayed or scaled back until city taxpayers can afford it and it’s more of a priority,” says Treleaven. It may have made a lot of sense in 2017 when the project began, it makes much less sense now, he says.
All city infrastructure programs are facing escalating costs from inflation, supply chain challenges and labour shortages, high construction costs, and neglect in the case of roads, during the next several years.
Staff reported this week that the condition of the roads is alarming. The 2022 road assessment study found that 55 percent of city roads are in poor or very poor condition, and increasingly falling apart will be very costly for taxpayers. Costs increase exponentially the longer they are neglected.
As for Centennial Square, the Friends of Centennial Square, a community group that oppose the project and supports retaining the fountain, says fixing the fountain would cost far less.
A 2016 cost estimate from Stantec, an engineering consultant, said remediation work would cost between $58,000 and $84,000.
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Centennial Square Action Plan: Opportunities & Big Ideas, City of Victoria, June. 2018.
Peril for Centennial Square fountain: Group lobbies to protect ‘major piece of public art’ from dismantling, Times Colonist, Sept. 10, 2023.
Draft City of Victoria budget includes proposed tax increase of 8.37 per cent, Times Colonist, Nov. 28, 2023.
Victoria’s draft budget includes 8.37 percent property tax increase, Victoria News, Nov. 29, 2023.
LETTER: Fountain must be preserved in renewal of Centennial Square, Sept. 9, 2023.
Draft 2024-28 Financial Plan, City of Victoria, Park Redevelopment Program, page 100.