More Questions on Olympic Athlete's Village; Construction Could Halt

Updated: Sat Jan. 10 2009 16:47:07, ctvbc.ca

Just 24 hours after Vancouver taxpayers were told they could be on the hook for $875 million in construction costs for the 2010 Olympic athlete's village, the city is still reeling.

"If that damn place where people are going to pay $1,200 a square foot to live in a cement box costs me -- a taxpayer -- one penny, I will be furious," one Vancouverite told CTV.

On Friday, the city of Vancouver said unless builders and bankers reach a new deal on the project by the end of the month, the construction will halt, or the city will have to reach into its pockets to keep it going.

New Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson admits it's a tough pill to swallow.
"The Olympic village is a billion dollar project and the city taxpayers are on the hook for all of it," Robertson told reporters on Friday.

The city is legally obligated to finish the village in time for the 2010 Games. The Olympic organizing committee put up $30 million for the project, but is unlikely to come up with any more.

Potentially being on the hook for almost a billion dollars to complete the 2010 Olympic athletes village is not sitting well with taxpayers. Although some appear to have taken a cynical approach from the get-go.
"I kind of knew it was going to happen anyway, so I'm not overly surprised," another man told CTV.

Maureen Bader of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation says the city will have to make some major changes if taxpayers become responsible.

"The city's going to have to start looking at where its going to cut back because an $870 million dollar debt isn't something that the property taxpayers of Vancouver can afford to carry," she says.

Vancouver's mayor blames the former city government -- Sam Sullivan's NPA party -- for the current fiscal mess.

"The decisions taken by the previous city government have put the city at enormous financial risk," Robertson told CTV News.

But things may not be that simple.

Because all of these decisions were all made at in-camera council meetings, not all the facts are known about who approved which part of the deal. It is known that councillors, including members of mayor Robertson's Vision Vancouver, voted in favour of a $100 million loan guarantee this fall.

But one of the more costly decisions appears to be split much more along party lines.

"I did not support the city taking on the liability for the completion of the Olympic village to the specs of this multi-million dollar, billion dollar project," says Vision Vancouver councillor tells CTV.

Deal says by the time it got to this fall, councillors had no choice but to spend the extra money to live up to the contractual obligations voted for by the NPA. She was pushing for a scaled down version.

"We absolutely are obliged to make sure we can house our Olympic athletes," she says. "They need to be housed comfortably and well. They don't necessarily need this neighbourhood."

As for taxpayers, there may be some more concrete answers to come. Vancouver city council is holding a special open meeting on Monday and is promising more information will come to light about just how much financial trouble we're in.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart