by Jamie Kelly I am responding to the letter called “Library appropriate” printed in the December 21, 2011 issue.
With respect to the lady who lives outside city limits, regarding the planning and construction of a new Powell River Public Library, I think that if Powell River is looking into building such a costly structure they may want to poll the taxpaying citizens of the community. I am all for improving our facilities but I do not want to break the bank doing it. The city should be spending our money on facilities that we the taxpayers require for essential services in this slower economy. In the future, with a larger taxation pool (from Saltery Bay to Lund) and a better economy, I could see the city looking at such projects.
The only way I can see a project like a new library being built today or in the near future is to raise our already-too-high taxes. If that is how we proceed I think there will be fewer and fewer people in this town over the course of the next 20 years. Young families will not be able to afford such fees. Losing a big taxpayer such as Catalyst Paper Corporation Powell River division or any other business isn’t helping either.
I don’t want to sound harsh but the city needs to be run more like a successful business not a sink hole. If spending is left unchecked, the taxpayer and people employed by the city will inevitably be the real losers here. I think we deserve a more discretionary spending approach, backed by the citizens.
Increasing debt from some of the partial grants that we have received from the provincial and federal governments is going to put a major strain on the current tax base. I think servicing the current debt will be hard enough for the tax base as it is. Creating a nice-to-have project should not be on the table at this point in time. We cannot borrow and spend more than we can create, if we want to thrive as a healthy business or city.
I think a smaller scale renovation is a much greater way to increase the library’s usefulness to locals, not another high-cost, under-budgeted≠ government project. In order to pay for such luxuries Powell River needs to have a larger and higher paid taxation pool. According to the latest report on the standard of living I don’t think Powell River is ready to take on another project of this size.
Ask the right people, and you will get the right answer.
Jamie Kelly is a taxpaying resident of Powell River.
