Council held a budget meeting on Monday, January 30, to look over its draft Capital Budget for 2017.
The total capital projects for 2017 add up to $20,258,691, of which $13,492,674 has been requested for new projects and $1,919,017 for work currently in progress, being carried forward from the 2016 capital budget.
The remaining $4,847,000 represents projects that are currently unfunded including washroom projects at the Hoodoos and Suspension Bridge ($200,000), a Little Tykes playground behind the Badlands Community Facility ($47,000) and $4,600,000 in additional flood mitigation work.
New projects for 2017 include $7,430,000 for provincially approved flood mitigation. Also included in the current year’s capital plan is a new lift station at East Coulee for $1.3 million, however, this project is dependent on receipt of grant funding for 50 per cent of the project and the replacement of bridge #11 on the Wayne Road for $1.3 million also grant dependant, with 75 per cent of the funding coming from the Strategic Infrastructure Program.
Roadwork this year will total about $1.2 million with funds from MSI, the federal gas tax and the province for provincial roadwork.
Equipment wise, the town is looking at purchasing a water truck and plow ($173,000), a loader for $225,000 and a ladder pumper truck to replace the Drumheller Fire Department’s pumper and the Simon Snorkel truck at a cost of $1,000,000 to be funded through MSI, over the next two years (2017/2018).
Other capital plans proposed for 2017 include improvements to the water and wastewater treatment infrastructure, work on Phase 3 development of the cemetery with a budget of $175,000 and continuation of the Infrastructure Master Plan with a budget request of $130,000.
The 2017 Capital Budget was built on the assumption that Drumheller’s annual grant funding allocation from MSI will remain the same as last year (Approx $1.9 million) as well as the Federal Gas Tax funding ($440,000).
About $1.9 million of the funding is carried over from the previous year, including funds committed to the Aquaplex renovations.
The town’s total reserves as of December 31, 2016 are estimated to be $11,727,646 and are projected by year end of 2017 to be $14,436,521.
