New city hall needs work

The price tag for the new West Kelowna city hall continues to rise.

Open for only seven months and money is already being requested for upgrades.

The city’s 2025 budget includes nearly $200,000 for improvements.

The request includes $115,000 for acoustic upgrades to improve the sound inside council chambers and another $80,000 for parking lot design.

That number will surely rise once parking lot work begins, however that does not appear to be part of the 2025 budget.

These budget requests come as the city remains tight-lipped about the overall cost of city hall.

The city is responsible for two-thirds of the overall cost of the building with the Okanagan Regional Library paying for the other third.

ORL CEO Danielle Hubbard recently said the cost of the library’s portion of the facility has risen to $12.5 million from the pre-pandemic estimate of $9 million.

At the time she said the library’s final portion wouldn’t be known until all the bills are paid, but didn’t expect it would increase much more than where it stands.

The last estimate from the city for its portion came in February when it was disclosed the cost had risen from $22.4 million to $22.8 million.

That cost does not include the cost of borrowing.

The original cost was pegged at $18 million.

In an email to Castanet News in October, city officials hoped to have a “look-ahead” in conjunction with the budget process.