Ottawa taxpayers, and not the private developers, will need to cover $173-million in costs for the non-tendered Lansdowne Park project, according to budget numbers released as part of the 2011 City capital budget. That's a big spend given that the city is making cuts to transit services and claiming a lack of funds for other projects like creating a park for the Soeurs de la Visitation Convent in Westboro or saving the Beaver Pond Forest in Kanata.
The Friends of Lansdowne is calling on all citizens to ask some hard questions about the real costs of the Lansdowne development scheme at the city's budget consultations this week and next.
Find the locations of the consultations which take place Wednesday February 23 in Kanata, Thursday, Febraury 24 in Osgoode, Monday, February 28 in Orleans and Thursday, March 3 in downtown Ottawa. All run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Alternatively, you can present your point of view by calling 311 or emailing 311@ottawa.ca.
Find some suggested questions to ask here.
The 2011 City capital budget includes the following budget items for Lansdowne: $124 million for the stadium renovation and parking; $35 million for the urban park (including $5 million for moving the Horticulture building); $8.5 million for the new trade show and exhibition hall at Albion Road; $3.8 million to relocate the sports Dome and $1.2 million for life cycle renewal. This totals $173.1 million but does not include hundreds of thousands in legal and consulting fees. It also does not include the interest charges that Ottawa taxpayers will have to carry for the next 40 years.
When the City of Ottawa gave approval to the Lansdowne Partnership Plan in June 2010, city councillors and the public were told that the plan would be revenue neutral for taxpayers. But the City has been notably silent on the question of revenue neutrality ever since an independent financial review by Rosen and Associates, one of Canada's leading forensic accounting firms, concluded that the City grossly misrepresented the financial impacts of the scheme. An affidavit presented by the firm states that the City's deficit on Lansdowne could, in fact, run as high as $200 million!
The City has never held any budget consultations on the Lansdowne Partnership Plan. Now's the time to ask questions about what it will really cost taxpayers.
www.letsgetitright.ca