Rocky View Schools is asking the City of Airdrie to forgo a final off-site levy payment of $579,525 to keep the school divisionís capital reserves from plunging deeper in debt.
The division paid $2.38 million in off-site levies to the City between 2008 and 2011. The last payment has already gone through, but trustees are showing remorse.
ìThis is a classic case of being caught between a rock and a hard place,î said Colleen Munro, Ward 5 trustee.
The school division has two parcels ready to be developed on its land, 2.5 and 6.2 acres in size, but neither has sold. They have a combined estimated value of $4.7 million.
The school division paid levies on the Education Centre, west of Eighth Street, because it owns the land. Therefore, the school division is acting as the developer and will use a portion of the land to house the cityís third high school.
ìItís the obligation to the City to provide school sites,î said Sylvia Eggerer, Ward 3 trustee. ìThey should be giving us land. Those 25 acres have been whittled down to 19 acres because of road widening.î
ìDevelopment costs of the site appear to be a never-ending story,î said Don Thomas, Ward 3 trustee. He added itís a ìvery good ideaî to ask the City to return the divisionís capital.
Board chair Bruce Pettigrew voiced opposition to the idea.
ìWe made a deal on good information at the time,î he said. ìThatís our responsibly. We have an issue. I will not support this alternative.î
The board later agreed, however, to pay the City $475,000 towards required improvements for the yet-to-be-built high school site, including spreading topsoil, installing pathways, landscaping, trees, fencing and curb replacements.
The $475,000 will be charged to RVSí maintenance department at a later date, not the capital reserves, as was first decided March 5, 2009.
