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Council owes ratepayers opportunity to decide on pool

The current town council is a disaster waiting to explode, and every week the circus gets larger.

The current town council is a disaster waiting to explode, and every week the circus gets larger. While major items, such as the Old Brick School, the Library, the carbon tax, infrastructure, increased taxes from other levels of government, lawyers bills, government reviews, what about the pool?

A couple of years ago, the Town and County, with their CAOs, were supposed to create a committee to look at the pros/cons of building a new pool versus costing a reconditioning of the old pool.

A few requests have been made to review this report, and to date it still has not been provided. I sincerely hope that when this project goes to tender, in fairness to all ratepayers, that both councils will sit down, figure out what the actual costs to all the taxpayers will be, then have a referendum so that the ratepayers, who end up with the bill, can say YES or NO to the project.

A note of interest here, Barrhead's pool opens next year, and they are already predicting annual operating deficits near $600,000 or more - that is per year. Can tell you right now, a lot of people in the areas of Boyle, Grassland and Wandering River are wondering why an increase in their taxes would go to building a pool in Athabasca, but not their communities.

Both councils owe the ratepayers the opportunity to decide which way this project SHOULD or NOT proceed.

Howard Wilkie

Athabasca, AB

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