The City of Prince George agreed to borrow $4.6 million this week to cover two capital projects that got the go-ahead from local voters via the Alternate Approval Process.
Both projects were already factored into the municipal budget, but funding had to wait until the city sorted out eligible grants.
Only one person opposed each of the two borrowing proposals, one for River Road in the amount of $3.9 million and one for the Simon Fraser Bridge in the amount of about $760,000. More than 5,000 signatures of opposition are needed to trigger a full referendum or a withdrawal of the proposal.
"For the River Road project, we weren't sure what the final amount would be until we heard back from the federal government," said Sandy Stibrany, Manager of Financial Services for the City of Prince George.
"We received money from their Asia-Pacific Fund and it was $2 million less than we thought we might have to borrow, that fund provided a total of $3.5 million."
The total price of the bridge project was $1.1 million, paid for in part by funding sources outside of the loan.
The work on River Road extended from the First Avenue entrance the full length to the Cameron Street Bridge end, was to both shore it up if a major flood occurred and improve its capacity to handle industrial vehicles, since it is a key point in the movement of commodities through the city and on to international markets.
The work on the Simon Fraser Bridge was mostly devoted to water mains from one side of the bridge to the other, with some work also on sewer pipes and trail connections, all associated to the twinning of that bridge by the provincial government.
The city was not permitted to take out loans for these projects without first asking permission from the public.
The Alternate Approval Process is used as a fast-track for obtaining that permission, rather than put the issue to a full referendum. If opposition is strong enough, a full referendum is then required.
