Feature

To Comment on this article Click Here

Saugeen Shores staff brought a follow-up 2012 Capital Budget  to Town Council recently with the primary focus on pool options and changes and revisions to the current and multi-year capital budgets.

Among the changes presented was to defer construction of the Elgin Street Parking lot as part of the downtown revitalization for a reduction of $47,500; to replace two town trucks instead of three for a reduction of $35,000; to accelerate the Town all exterior restoration work of $230,000 funded from future capital reserves; to defer Port Elgin beach washrooms to 2013 for a saving of $45,000; to start with drawings of the proposed pool at $500,000 but defer construction to 2016.

According to Treasurer, Lori Sweiger, "The capital budget recommended represents staff attempts to meet the needs of the community while addressing Council priorities."

When it came to the pool discussion, there were several opinions around the Council table.

"I am struggling with all this," said Councilor Diane Huber.  "With a new building, there was documentation that suggested the facility would be used at one-quarter of its capacity and the cost of operation would be over $1million per year.  I take issue with the user groups and am not seeing a sense of urgency.  I do not see a competitive tank for a relatively small group of competitive swimmers when, in comparison, a large number of seniors would like a warm water swimming facility."

Jayne Jagelewski, Community Services Director, explained that users of the current pool are 40 per cent youth and that competitive swimmers prefer cold-water lanes.

"When looking at the options," said Councilor Fred Shildroth, "what can the community be expected to fundraise or what will the difference be for the municipality to come up with?"  The town's CAO, Larry Allison explained that a general rule of thumb is that ten per cent of capital costs can be expected.

Shildroth also pointed out that the hospital is also another project that is coming.  "Neither will be successful if they run at the same time," he added.

Mayor Mike Smith added that it would be necessary to understand and look at capital costs over the next 20 years of projects such as bridges and a new police station [expansion].  "We need to know more information before committing to one large project.  There could be huge demands, or none, but we need to know and analyze our long-range plans over the next 20 years.  We have been struggling over the years and I don't suspect there will be a lot of give-away [government] programs in the next while.  2016 may be more realistic (swimming pool) but we can't make a decision for the long-term if we don't know if we will be successful [in accessing government funding]."

Deputy Mayor Luke Charbonneau asked staff what they wanted as a result of the budget presentation.  "Are we just batting this around or are we giving some direction?"

"I see very little money spent on anything except the Streetscape and the pool plans," said Vice Deputy Mayor Doug Gowanlock. "We also need to focus on rural infrastructure down the road."

"I for one," added Shildroth, "want to see the Beach house washrooms renovation upgrades done. Can we not put the pool drawings of $500,000 over for two years?  That's a lot of money for one year.  They [washrooms] are far more important as we have had a lot of complaints about them and they need to be renovated."

"Instead of spending money on drawings," added Councilor Taun Frosst, "I would like to see the money freed up for other projects.  I am very concerned about the dehumidification system at the pool."

"I see half a million dollars on planning," Gowanlock said, "and we have not even made a decision on the direction we want to go.  I am not convinced we can continue to borrow money and we need to make a decision."

"We will get a report in January about long-term debt options," Mayor Smith pointed out.  "It's a big commitment and I don't think waiting for a few months will make a difference." 

"If you are looking at making a commitment to drawings," added CAO Allison, "waiting until 2013 will not make a difference."

"I agree with Councilor Shildroth," said the Deputy Mayor.  "We have a perfectly useless bridge reserve of $135,000 that would be better spent on more important things.  That reserve could provide the $73,000 needed for the washrooms."

Mayor Smith pointed out that there are a number of bridges that will require long-term capital needs.  "To say we are going to debt finance all the bridges will leave us running out of options.

"The next bridge replacement is due in 2035," countered the deputy mayor.  "The taxpayers of 2035, who have not even been born yet, are not going to benefit and the people of today should have those things that benefit them today.  I don't think it appropriate to tax people of today for those structures in the future."

Gowanlock also added that he did not want to see reserves sacrificed to provide cash or contributions by the municipality to avoid borrowing money.

"Take the thing ($135,000) out then," said Mayor Smith.

"We are not going to see anything from the Feds for years," Frosst added, "and right now the Town Hall is taking a lot of dough."

Councilor Fred Shildroth also pointed out that council had not yet made a decision on the pool.  "I don't want to spend $500,000 on drawings when we don't even know where we are going with it."

"We are looking for direction," said the Treasurer, "especially on items that don't impact the operating budget.  Operating approval can be approved before a Capital Budget approval.  The $1.145 million is $68,000 higher than capital which is a three-quarter per cent increase in the tax levy of last year."

"There is little chance to save money in operations," Seaman added, "and if the budget increase begins to climb, the only way to protect taxpayers is to use dollars out of the Capital Budget."

In the end, no decision was made, or approval given, to the budget which will be deferred until the new year after an in-depth review is done following Hemson Consulting's report and recommendations in mid-January.

Survey Participate in our latest Kincardine Times survey

Survey Participate in our latest Saugeen Times survey

Survey Participate in our latest Walkerton News survey

^{for world news, books, sports, movies ...}

Monday, December 05, 2011