Posted from the Daily Graphic July 9 2008

In what is becoming a regular occurrence at Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie council meetings, a group of concerned ratepayers filled the gallery at the July 8 meeting to show their disapproval of council’s decision to help fund the PCU Centre in Portage.

Abe Peters, an Oakville-area farmer, was one of three delegates who spoke in front of council on behalf of the roughly 15 residents who attended the meeting.

Peters told council he has many concerns with how the RM is taxing residents to pay for the up to $8 million the RM has promised to contribute to the project, and is upset with what he called inadequate answers the RM is giving residents about how the RM will pay for operating costs once the structure is built.

At a public meeting on May 15, held to discuss plans for the multiplex, the annual operating costs for the complex were said to be as much as $1.2 million.

Following the meeting, Reeve Toby Trimble said some of the operating costs will be recovered by fees collected from users of the complex, and the rest will be paid for by the RM and the City of Portage. Trimble added money the RM receives from a tax -sharing agreement with the city will likely be used to pay the costs.

“We’ll have the ability to direct a portion of the money we receive from the tax-sharing agreement toward the operating budget of the multiplex,” explained the reeve.