Councillors in Sechelt have been tweaking their capital spending priorities as the deadline for adopting a new financial plan draws closer, and Mayor Darnelda Siegers is hoping to see treatment and distribution of reclaimed water from the Water Resource Centre moved up the list.
The five-year outlook, presented at the March 27 committee of the whole meeting, includes $225,000 toward that project in 2022 and $1.2 million in 2023, much of which is dependent on grants coming through from senior governments.
“This keeps moving out further, and further and further, yet I’m also hearing about potential grants that are available out there,” Siegers said. “Unless we have the project ready when the grants become available, we won’t be able to take advantage of them.”
Siegers also said that with the district itself being one of the biggest water users in Sechelt, using reclaimed water for some operations would have benefits.
“I know that during the summer we use the other [non-potable] water source that we have, but if we have preparation for using reclaimed water, which many municipalities are already doing, that could potentially have some savings for the municipality down the road, and also make it available for other users in the community.”
Director of finance Doug Stewart suggested that council consider drawing from the sewer reserve in 2020 or 2021 when the balance is expect to be healthier than the $232,107 anticipated at the end of the current fiscal year.
During the deliberations, Coun. Janice Kuester also highlighted the need to move forward on road improvements on Norwest Bay Road in the area of West Sechelt Elementary School.
The project was on the West Sechelt Community Association’s list of requests to the district, and the 2019 capital plan includes $60,000 for design work but no money for construction.
“My daughter was at West Sechelt [Elementary] School in 2007 and nothing’s changed. The school’s getting busier, they’re adding more portables, there’s more traffic there, there’s more kids there and we still haven’t addressed the safety issue,” Kuester said.
District staff responded by saying that with the unknowns around the School District No. 46’s plan for upgrades to the school, the design budget is a rough estimate and any money left over would go to pay for construction.
The current draft budget calls for a three per cent tax increase to build up the capital reserves, and none of the proposed spending for 2019 would add to that potential increase, although it would impact the reserve balances.
Stewart put the cost of the 2019 capital projects at around $12.2 million, with about $9 million coming from grants or development cost charges and the balance coming from various reserves including the general capital and gas tax reserves.
