Just over half of a $25.4 million capital budget proposed for the city of Fort St. John goes towards upgrading roads – but in order to avoid drawing on reserves, staff said council must slim it down by $4.4 million.
On Tuesday, City Hall hosted a sparsely attended open public hearing about the city’s capital budget. Only four people showed up.
The hearing was meant to show what the city wanted to spend on capital projects, such as road upgrades, building repair and other large infrastructure projects.
About $19 million was allocated towards streetlights, roads, sidewalks and storm sewers. Road repair took up most of the capital budget.
Projects include 110 Street between 100 Avenue and 102 Avenue, 108 Avenue from 96 Street to 98 Street, 85 Avenue from 79 Street to the East Bypass Road, 85 Avenue from 88 Street to 91 Street, 87 Avenue from 74 Street to 78A Street, 92 Street from 100 Avenue to 102 Avenue, and 97 Avenue from 98 Street to 100 Street.
Other projects were deemed to be local area service projects. These projects are in part funded by additional funds put forward by nearby property owners.
They include 75 Street from 85 Avenue to 93 Avenue and 98A Avenue from 93 Street to 94 Street.
About $3.3 million was set to be spent on various recreational facilities, including projects at the Charlie Lake boat launch and the Pomeroy Sport Centre.
The largest single line item, $770,000, would go towards neighbourhood parks. Included in this was a refurbishing of the spray park near the North Peace Arena.
“We can either refurbish what is there and add to it, or go through a bit of a process and reconstruct it,” said the city’s general manager of community services, Wally Ferris. “We have to do a feasibility study on our own to see what's practical. It’s rather aged and it does have infrastructure issues.”
One of the items in that part of the budget was money to improve the Pomeroy Sport Centre’s acoustics. This would include a study outlining potential options the city can take to make it easier for the Centre to host two events at the same time, as well a second dehumidifier to improve the quality of the ice.
As for the Charlie Lake boat launch, an earlier 2014 report from city staff said that the dock may soon need to be completely reconstructed, at an estimated cost of about $200,000 to $300,000.
"The existing structure will have to be removed and replaced with new concrete matting, the bases strengthened and the boat launch extended," it states.
Ferris said that currently, “(the boat launch has) deteriorated to the point where there could be some potential liability situations, so we have to move forward with it.”
Councillor Byron Stewart suggested that the conversation take place with the regional district for help fund that project, as rural citizens were using the launch as well.
The final 2015 capital budget may be very different, as council has yet to vote on it. The budget presented on Tuesday was over-allocated by $4.4 million.
City finance director Mike Roy said that some of this gap could be paid for by using reserve funds, but Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman seemed to not support that idea.
“We don't want to use all of that,” she said. “That's what reserves are for.”
Ackerman suggested that the city reach out through its Facebook page to give residents more chances to comment on the proposed budget.
reporter@ahnfsj.ca
