January 27, 2008

Open letter to the Mayor and Council of the Village of Cumberland

Re: Trilogy at Cumberland proposal and the Village of Cumberland MOU.

I am writing to express my concerns regarding the proposed Trilogy at Cumberland development and the related rezoning applications and Memorandum of Understanding.

Among my many concerns with the Trilogy proposal and the OCP amendment is the impact that it will have on our Village's financial situation. Indeed, this is a particular worry given that costs and taxes have been steadily rising over the years, causing many property owners to question whether they can afford to stay.

As taxpayers we have good reason to be asking these questions. While this development will bring in new sources of revenue in the form of property and (for businesses) sales taxes and certain fees (amenity fees and development charges), they also bring costs such as roads, water and sewer systems, and school improvements. New residents and businesses will need to be served by police, firefighters, trash collectors, and other government workers. The list goes on.

To my knowledge the Village hasn't conducted a Fiscal Impact Analysis with respect to this major development. Yet Council is prepared to charge ahead with a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to various terms, costs and benefits. I have heard figures that it could cost as much as 40 million dollars to put in the sufficient water and sewer infrastructure to service the Trilogy development at build out. But we really don't know because the Village hasn't crunched the numbers and considered all the factors. And if they have the taxpayers certainly haven't been informed.

With a negative fiscal impact the deficits generated by the development will require local tax rates to be increased, the level of locally funded services to be lowered, or both. And in this instance the increase in tax rates could potentially be astronomical. This is an important point because the few people I have talked to in the Village that support the Trilogy proposal do so because they believe that the fiscal gains we will receive from the development will help pay for the infrastructure upgrades that are needed. Is this the case? Nobody really knows. I urge Council to do their due diligence in this regard before proceeding any further in this process and provide its taxpayers with a Fiscal Impact Analysis.

Respectfully,

Evan Loveless
Cumberland, BC
Evan and Sue Loveless
2749 Derwent Avenue, Cumberland BC, V0R 1S0