At their second budget meeting, council looked at the proposed $8,547,000 Capital and Special Projects budget for 2025.
Before the discussions began, CFO Natalie Wehner explained to council that none of the current projects will affect the district’s tax rates.
“Staff have proposed the use of Operating Surplus, Capital Reserves, Grant Funding and Peace River Agreement funding (PRA) to offset these costs and there would be no increase to taxation,” says Wehner.
“It should be noted that the Asphalt Reserve will be close to being fully depleted. Finance staff are currently finalizing reserve calculations but are confident there are sufficient funds to cover the request.”
She says staff are confident there are sufficient funds in reserves and surplus to fund the capital and special projects as presented.
She also says that a number of the projects are grant dependent. These projects will not proceed, she says, “until staff obtains grant application approval.”
As they did last year, staff has not included potential costs for many of the projects.
They did this, as they don’t want people bidding on projects to know how much they are willing to spend on these projects. That way, the hope is that people will bid how much it will cost to actually do the project, as opposed to bidding against the amount budgeted, and hopefully getting a more honest bid.
However, it means that it’s hard to share the big ticket items coming up in 2025.
One of those things, though, will be fixing the sidewalks downtown.
According to the report, the sidewalks are: “a safety hazard, not friendly to those with mobility issues and aesthetically deter investment and visitors. Completion of the sidewalk revitalization project will assist in attracting and retaining business, improving connectivity for those using modes of active transportation, improving safety by elimination uneven surfaces, large holes, cracks, etc, improve use for those with mobility issues including letdowns at intersections, etc, marketing the area for visitors and tourists, and improving public opinion of the district as this shows that we are addressing the concerns of our residents.”
This is a project that was initiated in 2021, but encountered unexpected delays. “While we think we have now addressed all these outstanding issues that caused the delays,” says the report, “despite our best planning, there is the potential for more unexpected issues to arise causing further delays and additional costs to the project.”
The district has applied for funding from the BC Active Transportation Fund for $500,000 to help offset the cost of the project, and they should know by April 2025 if the grant was successful.
Also on the books for next year is the fire training area and fire hall, though the latter is currently to review the option of a tri-service building with ambulance and the RCMP.
2025 will also see a number of roads get paved, including Sukunka Ave and Place, Wolverine Ave and Place, and Valleyview Cres and Place.
This is one of the biggest ticket items, and one of the most important to get started on, so it was pre-approved.
Also pre-approved was a new snow removal sidewalk machine.
The new machine would be Canadian made, meaning the parts would be easily to source. “The current unit that the district has is a critical piece of equipment multiple needs.”
While council has approved the current Capital and Special Projects Budget, that does not mean that they won’t go back and make changes.
Indeed, Council still has until mid-May to pass the budget for 2025.
On Monday, Council talked about Grant-in-Aid and Fee-for-Service requests. On Tuesday (after the paper went to press, but before it returned), council looked at the Draft Operating Budget for 2025. More on in the February 20 issue.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
