Kelowna Mayoral hopeful, Tom Dyas sent an open letter to Costco on Wednesday, asking the wholesale giant to stay in Kelowna.
In his letter, Dyas asks Costco for a meeting, after the October 20th election, to try and find solutions that would keep the store in Kelowna. Dyas is Past President of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and is running for Mayor against Bobby Kennedy, Bob Schewe and Colin Basran.
Costco has been exploring other communities, including West Kelowna, as options for a new location. “The decision has not been finished yet, meaning that, they completely haven’t decided on exactly where they’re going to go but I understand that they are potentially close to making a decision,” explained Dyas.
If they chose another location, Dyas says the Kelowna taxpayer could be on the hook for big bucks, “If there’s a shortfall in tax revenue and it needs to be made up, that shortfall is going to have to be found through increases in other taxes.”
And we’re not talking about a small revenue loss. “The property, currently where the Costco sits on, has of a value of around $35-36 million dollars. A $35-36 million dollar property has taxes associated to it approximately $350-400 thousand or maybe a little bit more than $400 thousand dollars. That is tax revenue that the city receives. With the loss of them not being there, there is a potential loss on long term/short term revenue. Over a long period time, wherever they (could have located) within our community there is a substantial loss of that tax revenue,” warns Dyas.
Tom Dyas’ Costco letter:
Dear Costco,
My name is Tom Dyas and I am a Mayoral candidate for the city of Kelowna, BC.
It is my understanding that you have outgrown your present Hwy 97 Costco warehouse location and wish to build a new larger warehouse which would include a gas bar.
From visiting other communities that have a Costco Gas Bar, I know drivers save money with each fill up, and members seem to appreciate the convenience of having this service available to them.
It has been brought to my attention that you came to our city and met with elected officials. However, you did not receive a very warm welcome as you were requested to change your distribution model and look at a store with two floors.
I can truly appreciate that a $126 Billion dollar business with 514 stores worldwide, generating an approximate average of $163 Million US dollars per store has a distribution model that is tried, tested and true.
Kelowna Costco has 90,000 members, pays hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes, provides approximately 200 jobs, supports many non-profit organizations and is an economic driver for our community.
If the Kelowna Costco warehouse is moved to West Kelowna our city of Kelowna would lose significant tax revenue which could result in Kelowna residents paying even higher property taxes in the future.
On behalf of the members of our community who value Costco I am hoping to convince you to wait until after the October 20th election. I would like to invite you back to Kelowna, or alternatively, if I am successful in being elected as Kelowna’s Mayor I would go to your head office in Washington to discuss alternatives within our community, as I do believe we could do better in finding a solution.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
A meeting with you at your earliest convenience after the October 20th election would be truly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Tom Dyas
Kelowna Mayoralty Candidate 2018