Bradford West Gwillimbury Councillors have been meeting in Committee of the Whole to review the 2022 budgets, both operating and capital, initially approved in 2019 as part of a multi-year budget process.
And like the Operating Budget debated on Monday, on Tuesday they tweaked a revised capital budget impacted by two years of COVID 19, which saw projects delayed or deferred due to the pandemic.
In 2019, a 10-year, $101 million capital program proposed annual capital expenditures of $10.2 million in 2022, plus another $470 million in multi-year capital works.
Due to rising costs, deferrals and shifting needs, the10-year forecast is now estimated at $116 million, with $10.8 million in projects slated for 2022, and multi-year capital works totaling $490 million.
Among the changes:
. A $50,000 Industrial Land Strategy, originally planned for 2022, has been delayed to 2023. However, the budget includes a new $50,000 expenditure, not foreseen in 2019, to cover the cost of updating the 911 dispatch system.
. $47,000 to move forward with the Bond Head Conservation District.
. Repairs and maintenance at the Bob Fallis Sports Complex, budgeted at $100,000, have been reduced to $27,000 – with the rest of the funding shifted to the BWG Leisure Centre, to cover more extensive repairs now budgeted at $212,000.
Director of Community Services Terry Foran explained: “Over the past six years we have renewed practically every component of that facility (Bob Fallis),” with the result that only minor repairs are predicted over the next two years.
Needed maintenance and repairs at the Leisure Centre include a new compressor, costly UV system for the pool, installation of traction flooring in pool dressing rooms, and a number of other works.
Some of the proposed changes were challenged by Council.
The budget includes $668,399 for Urban Roads Rehabilitation but $0 for rural road rehabilitation, down from the $540,000 originally budgeted.
Coun. Gary Lamb questioned the decision to cut all spending on rural road reconstruction in 2022. “We’ve had some failures with surface treating,” he said. “I don’t really want to lose a year out there… Some rural roads are still in need of some upgrades.”
Foran explained that the revisions in the capital budget were prompted by the Roads Needs Study and 10-year report presented to Council earlier in the year.
“Staff have been pretty aggressive over the last few years” in addressing rural roads, carrying out repairs, ditching and culvert replacement, he said. While maintenance on rural roads will continue, including dust control and pothole repair, the decision was made to address the road needs “based on the funds we have.”
Capital projects are funded through a combination of grants, Reserves and Reserve Funds, development charges and long term debt – and in the case of replacement items or non-growth-related works, taxation.
Foran pointed out that rural roads will be back in the budget in 2023, in the amount of $2.31 million, but the only reconstruction work scheduled for 2022 is for urban roads Orsi, Evans and Patrician Court.
Lamb suggested it was a matter of perception. “People are still concerned (rural) roads are still being pushed down the list. I just want to make sure we have some fairness here,” he said. “There has been quite an effort in the rural area, but there’s still that perception of fairness.”
Foran agreed, but noted, “We’re looking at the town holistically. We are trying to address the needs, where they exist,” based on complex criteria that include replacement of underground servicing.
The 2022 Capital Budget includes $35,000 for Traffic Safety, to support the recommendations of the Traffic Safety Committee. Coun. Mark Contois called for the addition of another $20,000, specifically to support speed bump and other traffic mitigating efforts.
Foran noted that there is a need to complete the current speed bump pilot project, before it is expanded. “We want to understand the effect of it,” and whether speed bumps are having the designed effect, he said, while still ensuring that the Town’s plows can ride over the bumps without damage.
Coun. Lamb suggested the money would be better spent on speed warning cameras, rather than speed bumps – which put “holes in the road,” and which penalize all drivers, not just speeders.
“It’s not just speed bumps. It’s all different measures of mitigation we can try using – even education,” said Contois, calling traffic safety the “No. 1 concern” of residents.
The $144,000 budgeted to replace fitness equipment at the end of its life cycle at the Leisure Centre was debated, with Coun. Raj Sandhu asking if replacement could be delayed to 2023, since the Leisure Centre has been closed for 18 months and the equipment sitting idle.
Foran noted that the expenditure has already been delayed, from 2021. “We would like to move forward with it,” he said, adding, “It’s Council’s decision… but this equipment keeps climbing in cost every year.”
“If we can get another year out of it…” said Sandhu, requesting that $40,000 be cut from the budget item.
There was also debate over a $300,000 study, necessitated by the County’s Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR). “What is that?” asked Coun. Contois.
CAO Geoff McKnight explained that Council will have to determine how to accommodate the additional growth assigned to the municipality by the County’s MCR – which has proposed a population of over 85,000 by the year 2051. The study, McKnight said, is “essentially another Official Plan Review.”
“It just seems like a lot of money,” said Contois.
Mayor Rob Keffer asked if the amount could be cut. “I really can’t see all the money being spent in 2022,” he said, expressing concern over the timetable set by the Province, for completion of natural heritage system and agricultural system reviews.
“We wouldn’t spend the full $300,000 if we didn’t have to spend the full $300,000,” said Director of Development and Engineering Services Peter Loukes, noting that the MCR study isn’t the only big ticket item related to the County MCR.
The Town will be undertaking a $700K Master Servicing Study - $500K in 2022, another $200K in 2023 - to determine whether the Town’s water and wastewater infrastructure will be able to handle the additional growth, and whether sufficiently water will be available from Innisfil’s Lakeshore Water Treatment Plant, in light of Innisfil’s own growth plans.
The study will also review the 31 applications for expansion of urban settlement area boundaries received from developers looking for a share of the growth.
“We have to evaluate some of those opportunities,” Loukes said, warning that the process is going to take “time and money. It’s going to cost what it’s going to cost.” Fortunately, the costs of both studies are funded 100 percent by Development Charges, he said.
Councillors proposed a number of cuts and additions to Capital, which were ‘parked’ in a virtual ‘parking lot’ for further debate, including:
. Deferring $25,000 for renovations to the Auld Kirk to 2023.
. Cutting $50,000 for an Events Strategy study. “Why can’t we do that in house?” asked Coun. Jonathan Scott.
. Cutting $40,000 from the library budget, for a Sunflower Solar panel.
. Adding $50,000 to the Transportation budget for sidewalks, curbs and line-marking, in addition to the $50,000 already in Operating for the same purposes.
If all recommendations are approved, it would cut approximately $85,000 from capital.
Budget meetings were held in person at the Bradford Community Centre auditorium and on Zoom, and streamed live on YouTube. For more information on the 2022 BWG Budget, click here.
