City council wrapped up their deliberation of the 2014 budget with a few tweaks to the recipe.
Swimming pools, sidewalks and roads and entrance to the Bob Harkins branch of the public library all received some seasoning to taste as the mayor and council worked their way through next year's financial plan.
Diving into aquatics
The addition of $200,000 from the snow clearing budget to the general infrastructure reinvestment fund turned out to be fruitful when city manager Beth James brought forward a proposal to boil down into a core services review suggestion to find a third-party operator for the Four Seasons Pool.
Administration's evaluation of the the KPMG recommendation found that the pool was reaching the end of it's economic life span, said James, and that significant capital investment would need to be made before any third party would be interested in taking it on.
Council approved the expense of up to $300,000 from the general infrastructure reinvestment fund to conduct a needs assessment for aquatic facilities which, said James, would include a more detailed evaluation of the capital requirement to upgrade the Four Seasons pool.
It will likely be into 2015 by the time a consultant was obtained and a study completed, which will include a public consultation piece.
Coun. Albert Koehler questioned whether the cost of the study at $300,000 was too high, but Coun. Brian Skakun said the expense was worth it.
"Is the Four Seasons pool important, I really believe it is. We have to look at this and we need to spend the money to figure out how much it's going to cost to repair this," he said. "It's an aging facility, we could be looking at several million dollars or more. To do this properly, to find out what the community wants... I think we have to spend it."
Branching out
Coun. Dave Wilbur's campaign for some real momentum to the entrance to the downtown branch of the public library was finally rewarded with a move to the funded 2014 capital plan.
"We have some ideas about how that may be funded," said city manager Beth James, but indicated city administration wanted to work with the library staff to get a better understanding of the project scope.
Library staff have indicated that the project to rejuvenate the entrance could cost about $2.5 million.
The city's accumulated surplus fund or its endowment fund - which sits at more that $12 million - are potential pots of money.
"I would like to see this happen," said Coun. Murry Krause. "The library has been asking for this for a very long time. And they're right. It's has to be replaced."
More road rehab
The surprises kept rolling in for council with the news that a even more funds were available from their federal/provincial gas tax allotment.
Coun. Cameron Stolz presented a motion to use previously unspoken-for money to attack the city's sidewalks, gravel roads and residential streets that need some extra TLC.
Staff will return to council with a list of what what those priority projects are.
According to information from operations superintendent Bill Gaal, there are $7 million worth of first priority new sidewalks and $2 million worth of top priority repairs throughout the city. Total new sidewalks and repairs would amount to more than $38 million.
"It's always exciting to be able to do more for the community than we expected," said Stolz.
Gas tax money is limited to projects that in some way contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
