It appears Princeton residents have no issues with the town borrowing almost $1.4 million to help advance fire safety in the community.
The town recently held an Alternative Approval Process for a loan authorization bylaw that asked for about $1.4 million of the total $4.5 million cost to be borrowed to finance the remaining design and construction costs of the new fire hall and training facility located at 322 Laurie Currie Way, adjacent to Princeton Industrial Park.
There were 2,425 eligible electors for the Alternative Approval Process, which required at least 10 per cent of electors to sign and submit response forms in opposition to the proposed Loan Authorization Bylaw. The approval of the electors was obtained as no eligible electors submitted response forms.
Council first approved the proposal of up to $4.5 million on November 12, 2024 during a special in-camera meeting. The full sources of funds for the entire project include:
- $2.1 million plus accrued interest from the Growing Communities Fund, a reserve setup which uses grant funding provided by the Province of British Columbia
- $527,817.04 plus accrued interest from the flood recovery grant provided by the Province under the resiliency guidelines provided under the agreement with the grant
- $500,000 plus interest from grants provided by other levels of government
The remaining $1,389,086 from the bylaw will be provided by a long-term borrowing request from the Municipal Finance Authority.
