Fiscal Impact needed for Trilogy Development

The public hearing prior to third reading of bylaws 846, 847, 851, 852 and 871, which will see major development by Trilogy at the Cumberland Interchange lands, is now set for February 12. However there is a major issue with this process and that is the absence of a Fiscal Impact Analysis by the Village of Cumberland. The fiscal impact will determine the difference between the revenues and expenditures generated by the proposed land use or development scenario. 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.

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 cost charges), it will also bring significant infrastructure 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 services. There will also be impacts on parks and recreation resources.

There is no doubt that Cumberland's Infrastructure is in need of repair and that we need to increase revenue to finance the needed upgrades. However there are big questions around whether the revenues derived from the proposed Trilogy development would actually cover its share of costs of upgrades from the development, let alone the costs of our own upgrades to the Village. This is before we consider the cost of increased services. There is substantial evidence that different types of developments have different revenue-to-cost characteristics and residential can usually cost more to service than commercial.

Several people in the Village (including some Council members) believe that the fiscal gains we will receive from the Trilogy development will help pay for the infrastructure upgrades that are needed. It may very well be the case that the Trilogy development will have a positive fiscal impact, but that needs to be determined. And as taxpayers we have good reason to be asking these questions. We will be the ones left holding the bag.

I urge everyone to come out to the public hearing on Feb 12 and demand that Council provide its taxpayers with a Fiscal Impact Analysis before they proceed any further with this process.

Respectfully,

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