Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson has called on NPA opponent Peter Ladner to explain a report that both claims the city will loan up to $100 million to bail out the Olympic Village project and alleges that the city’s top finance officer has resigned.

“The news today that the city’s Chief Financial Officer has resigned after months of supposedly expressing concerns about the financial status of the village is devastating,” Robertson told a press conference late this morning.

“The fact that Peter Ladner, the chair of the city’s finance committee, did not know about this is even more troubling. He is in charge of an $848 million budget and he doesn’t know if his CFO has resigned?” Robertson said.

Ladner declined to be interviewed for this report, but his campaign released the following statement.

“Robertson's call for open public discussion of complex legal and financial negotiations on city property deals reveals his lack of experience in how civic government works,” Ladner said in the statement.

Ladner spokesman Michael Meneer confirmed that Ladner spoke to city CFO Estelle Lo yesterday evening.

“It was on a different matter,” Meneer said. “Our understanding is that she is still a city employee.”

Vision Coun. Raymond Louie also warned that the reported $100 million loan could wipe out the cash portion of the city’s Property Endowment Fund.

“There isn’t $100 million” cash in the fund, Louie told the Vision press conference. “It’s mostly land and buildings that are within the PEF right now.”

Robertson called for an emergency public council meeting to make public news of the Olympic Village crisis, and suggested the city to appoint an independent auditor to review the financial situation.

“We need to ask Peter Lander to stop keeping people in the dark,” Robertson said. “This morning after a debate that the two of us had, he literally ran from questions on the story.”

Ladner's statement refuted that assertion, adding that he told a reporter, “The Property Endowment Fund is equipped to make loans if necessary to protect taxpayers.”

Monte Paulsen is investigative editor of The Tyee.