In his recent letter to the editor in defence of city finances, Rory McIvor points out that the referendum to build the South Okanagan Events Centre passed by a voter approval rating of 80.3 per cent in September 2006.
He neglected to say (or perhaps he forgot) that the referendum vote was based on a projected cost for the SOEC of under $40 million. The announcement a few months later that the actual cost to build the SOEC would be $78 million casts doubt on the validity of the voter approval of the project.
In other words, would the voters have approved the project if the true cost was known at the time of the vote? It also casts doubt on the competency and credibility of the organization which made the original estimate.
D.C. Bergman
Penticton
