By John Francis
Three times over the last couple of months, our municipal council has had to figure out how to deal with older buildings that need significant repairs and renovations.
The Meeting Place in Tobermory needs $140,000 in HVAC and roof repairs. Even if it gets those, it would still be a temporary building past its design lifespan. The old daycare/township office in Tobermory has serious flooding problems in the lower storey.
Councillor Todd Dowd has a background in construction. He suggested that MNBP (Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula) should not put any more money into either of these buildings but should construct a simple, slab-on-grade building on the same property to fulfill all of the functions we need and then tear down the two old buildings. Use that $140,000 as a down payment.
The arena in Lion’s Head is in far better shape than either of the abovementioned buildings. But even so, it will need an investment of more than $13 million to keep it in very good shape past 2034 (numbers taken from a consultant’s report — read it in the Agenda for Council’s August 12 Meeting).
That is: $5.37 million in capital and maintenance between 2024 and 2033, plus $2.9 million in 2034, plus an estimated $5 million to build accessible dressing rooms. Average that out over those 11 years and it comes to $1.2 million per year. Just to keep an older building from deteriorating. Councillor Dowd urged Council not to throw good money after bad.
The Facilities Risk Solutions Report to Council estimates the cost of a new arena of the same size as the existing one at $15.9 million. Amortize that over 20 years and it comes to $1.37 million per year (my calculation, based on 6% interest with no down payment). Pull some money out of reserves to start and borrow some of the rest from reserves at 3% interest and the cost drops much lower.
The point of this is that building a new arena is probably more cost-effective in the long run than fixing the old one. Because after the 20 year amortization period, the cost would drop drastically from that $1.37 million per year. Costs on an old arena would keep rising.
But neither of these solutions is actually on the table. What is on the table is benign neglect.
The municipality has an annual budget of $8 million or so and it’s already spent just keeping the lights on. There is no $1.37 million a year to build a new arena. There also isn’t $1.2 million a year to keep the existing arena in good shape.
Just as there isn’t a couple of million to build a new community building in Tobermory. There’s barely enough to put a band-aid fix on the worst of the problems at the Meeting Place building.
At Lion’s Head arena, they’d pull money out of contingency funds if something breaks or collapses, but that’s about it.
Mayor Milt McIver has seen this coming for years. He points out that having the lowest tax rates around is not necessarily a good thing. In this year’s budget discussions he argued passionately for a substantial increase in property taxes to create a capital reserve. And now we’re seeing what he was talking about.
Without that increase in taxes there is no money for a new community building in Tobermory. Without that increase in taxes, there is no money to keep up with maintenance on the existing arena, let alone add accessible dressing rooms. Build a proper new arena? Who are we kidding?
If you’re wondering what benign neglect looks like, take a look at the tennis courts at BPDS (Bruce Peninsula District School). They’ll be fixed by next August but they’ve been unuseable for years.
