City, province reach agreement in principle on funding southwest rapid transitway

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This article was published 08/07/2015 (3745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fears over how the province will dole out the funds for bus rapid transit have been put to rest.

A tentative agreement had been made between the province and city on how the Selinger government will fund their $225 million portion of the southwest rapid transitway, executive policy committee members were told Wednesday.

However, the agreement has not been placed in writing, much to the chagrin of Mayor Brian Bowman.

“Certainly as a lawyer I want to see we have something in writing from the province before we even take it to council and before we put out the request for proposal,” he said.

Last month, the city’s finance chairman, Coun. Marty Morantz, and the city’s transit director, Dave Wardrop, raised concerns that the province would be paying its $225 million portion of the project by forcing the city to take out a loan, which the province would pay back.

According to Morantz, the city could likely not afford to take on more debt.

Transit director Dave Wardrop told EPC members that an agreement “in principle” has been reached between the province and city, in which the province will the issue the money in stages.

Wardrop said in the beginning the Selinger government will give $18 million upfront, a further $95 million upon the project’s completion, $67 million in 2020 and a further $22.5 million in 2021 and 2022.

Of those funds, only $112 million between 2019 and 2022 will be financed by the city borrowing the money, which the province will pay back, including interest.

Bowman saw the change as a small victory for the city, noting the original plan would not have worked with Winnipeg’s debt capacity.

“I’d like $225 million right now, but we have to work with other levels of government,” he said after the EPC meeting. “It is a lot better than what we were looking at.”