Did you miss the Special Meeting last night? See below for a summary of the items presented at the meeting
At last night's Special Meeting of Council, Council gave first, second and third reading of both the 2023 5 Year Financial Plan Bylaw and the 2023 Property Tax Bylaw. The Financial Plan Bylaw was amended since it was initially presented to Council during the budget process to include proposed potential borrowing for sewer works that are planned to be conducted alongside critical watermain replacements that are proceeding with Provincial grant funding. The City is proposing to potentially borrow up to $40 million for sewer replacement, in order to be eligible for Federal funding (additional information below). City Council will consider final reading of both of these two Bylaws at the upcoming Regular meeting of Monday, May 8th.
Additional information on Proposed Borrowing for Sewer
Subsequent to the direction provided on the Budget at the April 24, 2023 meeting, staff were made aware of the opportunity to obtain additional grants to contribute towards the in-tandem sewer linear piping work that is considered a critical risk item in the City’s Infrastructure Replacement Strategy – which focuses on identifying the highest risk infrastructure in our community. A condition of qualifying for this grant is for the City to commit to conducting a larger portion of sewer piping replacement in the financial plan. The total estimate for replacing water and sewer mains in the most critical 26 kilometer section of the City is $205M, with $65M coming from a secured Provincial Grant, the City proposing to borrow $5M for engineering/design, to borrow an additional $40M for sewer, and the remaining $95M applied to the Federal government for grants for both water and sewer. Sewer lines must be replaced at the same time as the water mains since a failure of the sewer lines could also impact adjacent infrastructure and potentially cause the water system to fail. It would also be far more costly (and disruptive to the community) to excavate the same road system twice to replace these systems at different times.
Staff are working on raising funding from the Federal government and securing additional sources of revenues to minimize the financial impact of this critical work on the tax/rate payer. Presently, borrowing would be repaid through utility fees, however staff are looking to reduce this debt requirement through new revenue streams like a Resource Benefits Agreement. Should the attached Five Year Financial Plan bylaw pass, the borrowing bylaw process will begin with more information available for Council and the public to consider. The borrowing bylaw process includes a requirement for public authorization to borrow for the sewer and the design works necessary to proceed with critical infrastructure replacement.