Vancouver city council is expected to vote Thursday on whether it should assume full responsibility for financing the 2010 Olympics athletes village -- a project that has ballooned in cost.
The price tag for the village is now approaching $1 billion, and the developer's U.S. financial backer recently stopped making payments, due to the skyrocketing costs.
The city has now entered talks to borrow roughly $800 million to take over financing of the project.
VANOC CEO John Furlong said the sluggish economy has changed everything leading up to 2010.
Sponsorship has shrunk, costs have ballooned and spending estimates from a year ago have been proven to be way off.
Furlong's organization has even had to come up with a new budget, spending the last few months crunching numbers to for a spending plan that works under the current circumstances.
The revised balanced budget was approved on Tuesday.
"Nobody has enjoyed this particular exercise but for us we had to face up to the fact that everything has changed and everyone still expects us to perform at a high level and we simply have to make this work and succeed anyway," Furlong told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.
Furlong made it clear that the problem-plagued athletes village is not VANOC's responsibility. Under an agreement with the city, the project falls under Vancouver's end of the bargain.
"We have an arrangement with the city where we've invested $30 million four years ago to have the village delivered in time for the Games," Furlong said.
"So our role has been to work with them to make sure the schedule isn't interrupted and to make sure we have these magnificent buildings in probably the most desirable site in our country, on time for the Games."
However, he said VANOC is doing everything it can to help complete the project, and said the city has the tools it needs to secure financing and "derive full value so that the project turns out to be a big winner for everybody."
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has said the city plans to maintain its agreement with Millennium, the original developer hired to complete the project -- despite the company's troubles securing financing.
Vancouver council is also expected Thursday to consider stronger controls on Olympic signage and a motion to put more emphasis on inner-city concerns in relation to Olympic security plans.
