Belleville councillor Mitch Panciuk. Photo/Quinte News
The Mayor of Belleville doesn’t see the glass as half empty when it comes to the downtown revitalization project.
At Monday’s city council meeting, Mayor Taso Christopher said councillor Mitch Panciuk was welcome to send mixed messages to the public about the project and was welcome to suggest everyone was worried and thought that the project was going poorly, but he wasn’t buying any of it.
The Mayor said he believed the project was going well, and that many in the community thought so as well.
Mayor Christopher was reacting to a motion made by councillor Panciuk that staff make a report available to council in early February on all possible funding options, including a Local Improvement Charge, to pay for any costs above 21 million dollars for the entire downtown project.
Councillor Panciuk’s motion was meant to zero in on options that would not raise taxes and he was careful to say that he did not necessarily support a Local Improvement Charge which would be an extra tax on property owners and businesses in the downtown.
Panciuk’s motion for a staff report went down to defeat 6 to 3. Only he, and councillors McCaw and Carr voted in favour of it.
Most agreed with Councillor Egerton Boyce who said that it seemed council was being forced to go over the same issue over and over again.
Councillor Boyce said staff gave council a report in November that outlined many options that could be used to pay for costs over and above $21 million dollars without any direct effect on the taxpayer.
Councillor Jack Miller said phase 3 of the downtown revitalization wouldn’t even be considered until 2017 and that all kinds of funding options would appear over time for councils consideration, adding that staff was providing information on the project on an ongoing basis.
Most councillors said they would never support a Local Improvement Charge on downtown businesses and property owners.
