Mayor’s slip of the tongue inexplicable

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/03/2015 (3881 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Maybe it was pre-speech jitters that caused Brian Bowman to suggest True North could receive tax incentives for building a hotel on Carlton Street.

When appearing on a local radio show Thursday, Bowman was asked if True North could be given tax incentives for building a hotel at 220 Carlton St. as part of its proposed $400-million True North Square project.

“If (tax incentives) come to the table for that hotel site, are you open to that?” the mayor was asked.

The answer that followed appeared to be at odds with what Bowman had briefed councillors and the media about the issue on Wednesday. Tax money from the hotel site is needed by the convention centre to pay down a multimillion-dollar loan to city hall.

But that’s not the answer Bowman gave.

“We’re going to be open to anything that’s fiscally responsible for taxpayers,” Bowman said, leaving open the possibility True North could offset its costs for the hotel via property tax refunds.

Bowman’s answer is all the more puzzling because it was his concern over the type of project at 220 Carlton that prompted him to criticize the deal that saw CentreVenture (which bought the land at the city’s request) give True North an exclusive option to develop the property in January, sparking a public row between himself and True North chairman Mark Chipman.

The property is key to the convention centre’s expansion and repayment of a $33-million loan to city taxpayers. A five-star hotel is necessary to lure more convention business, which would allow the convention centre to pay down $17 million of that debt over a 25-year period.

The increase in property and business tax revenue from the hotel site is to be credited to the convention centre and applied to the remaining $16-million portion of the loan from taxpayers.

In July 2012, council directed the tax revenue from 220 Carlton be credited to the convention centre for repayment of its loan. Any change in that position would take another motion from council, which is unlikely given how desperate city hall is for revenue.

Bowman told councillors and reporters on Wednesday that whatever project is developed at 220 Carlton, it must fit in with the convention centre’s ability to pay back its loan.

Bowman’s office did not offer an explanation for Bowman’s comments on the radio station Thursday.

 

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca