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The province - not Vancouver - could be ultimately responsible for picking up the tab for the troubled Olympic athletes village, a city councillor aligned with Mayor Gregor Robertson is suggesting.

On Friday, Mr. Robertson revealed the cost of the village had jumped to $875-million, and that city council had assumed a legal commitment in the fall of 2007 to finish the project. The mayor said Vancouver taxpayers are on the hook for those costs, although revenue from any sale of the resulting condominium units would reduce that financial obligation.

However, one of his supporters on council said yesterday the province could end up being the party obligated to pay for the project. Councillor Geoffrey Meggs, a member of the mayor's governing Vision Vancouver party, pointed to a 2006 Auditor-General's report that said the province had guaranteed all venue projects, by virtue of commitments made in 2002 as Vancouver was bidding to be the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

In that report, the Auditor-General wrote that in the event that a venue's backers did not live up to their commitments, "... the costs will ultimately still fall on the Province since the venues will have to be completed - whatever the price in order that they be ready in time for the Games." Finance Minister Colin Hansen was not available for comment yesterday, but the provincial government has said it does not agree with the Auditor-General's opinion.

In the 2002 agreement, Vancouver does promise to complete the athletes village, but the province also "guarantees that it will take those measures necessary in order that Vancouver may fulfill its obligations." Under that agreement, any dispute between parties is subject first to mediation and then to binding arbitration, meaning that Vancouver has a tool at its disposal to attempt to force the province to fund the Olympic village.

Mr. Meggs said there is "continuing debate" over the province's responsibility, but that there is no doubt that the province is not divorced from the situation. "The reality is, we're all in this together."

The financing of the athletes village dominated the closing days of the November municipal election campaign, after The Globe and Mail reported that city council, then dominated by the Non-Partisan Association party, had secretly approved a $100-million loan to the project developer, Millennium Development Corp. The NPA lost not only the mayor's chair, but was nearly wiped out on council, retaining just one seat.

Mr. Robertson said Friday that the city had actually paid out most of that $100-million loan through the fall, after Millennium's backer, Fortress Investment Group, stopped lending to the project in October. The final $21-million is to be paid out this month.

Suzanne Anton, the only NPA councillor to survive the November election, said Mr. Robertson's criticism of the legal guarantee extended in 2007 is a "red herring" because Vancouver had already made a binding commitment at the time of the bid in 2002. She said the mayor is using the controversy over the project's financing for political gain.

Ms. Anton said she believes Mr. Robertson is focusing on the 2007 guarantee because it was a rare example of council being divided on the Olympic village. "He is picking on the one thing where there may have been a difference in vote."

She said "all options" are being discussed, including calling on the provincial government to help in financing the project.

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee did not comment yesterday. The mayor's office declined to comment, but Mr. Robertson is to hold a news conference today on the athletes village controversy.