The cost of renovating a building in Belleville to become The Bridge Homeless and Addiction Recovery Hub has increased to close to $8 million due to serious structural issues not known about until renovations got underway at 1 Alhambra Square.
After a $2.8 million senior government grant and substantial local foundation donations, Belleville taxpayers are still on the hook for about $5 million of that total.
Wednesday, city councillor Kathryn Brown asked a Hastings County committee to support granting the city half a million dollars out of a planned $800,000 community capital fund because the hub will serve people from throughout the county and Prince Edward County. Fellow councillor Paul Carr supported her.
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“So if we’re going to have success on this then we need to be working together as neighbours and that includes funding this initiative to some degree.”
Meanwhile, Deputy-Warden of the County Tony Fitzgerald of Hastings Highlands said people in Bancroft and north aren’t likely to get to Belleville.
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“The money that is allocated, the community call-out money, is for all these other local organizations that include people that are in the rest of the county. And to take it and centralize it in Belleville leaves even less.”
The committee voted against granting Belleville the requested half a million dollars toward the hub’s capital costs.
