City Council to hear final list of Capital Spending plans for 2019 at Council session tonight

It's the season's of lists, there's Santa's List of who's been naughty or nice, the year end lists of the best and worst of the year and for the City of Prince Rupert, there's Corinne Bomben's Capital Project to do list for 2019.

How the City plans to spend some money will be the theme for a report from the City's Chief Financial Officer tonight, as Ms. Bomben outlines the City's Capital Spending program for 2019.

Heading into 2019 the City's water infrastructure program will move forward, with the second phase of the water project related to the replacement of the Woodworth Lake Dam. The tender and award contingency budget for the project is noted as being approximately two and a half times higher in cost than the initial conceptual design. Ms. Bomben notes that is anticipated that the shortfall in funding for the project will be covered in part through a dividend from the City's Legacy Fund and through debt. To address that shortfall, City Council will be asked to consider a borrowing bylaw in 2019 to provide for the monetary requirements for the remainder of the project.

City of Prince Rupert CFO
Corinne Bomben will outline
the city's capital spending
plans for 2019 tonight

2019 will see the completion of the West Berm expansion of the City's landfill site off of the Ridley Island Access road, once the project is done the city will have a couple of years of airspace to handle its needs, while they give consideration to the opening of a new 35 year landfill cell.

When it comes to General Operations, the city is looking at four areas for capital spending with the Recreation Centre featured in a few areas, the first being the boiler replacement program originally planned for 2018, it now will move forward next year. The Recreation Centre will also working on the installation of chlorine and ammonia ventilation systems.

The city's transportation link from Fairview Bay to Digby Island will be in for a refit this year, as the Airport Ferry goes out of service for the month of April while it is taken to the south for its annual refit program, while it is out of service, the city will have to provide a substitute service for residents.

The city's roads could possible see an increase budget for 2019, with staff making the recommendation for the increase to the annual paving budget.

Waste collection is also an area where capital spending is required, with staff making note of the need to replace the large garbage truck, with the possibility of implementing curbside recycling should the city choose to purchase a multi-purpose vehicle. The city also requires a flusher truck, with plans to fund both purchases through an equipment  loan that will be repaid through reserve funds.

The 2019 Capital Works/Purchases review
(click to enlarge)

Of the near 33 million dollar total, 6.5 million would be funded through Federal/Provincial grants, close to 8 million dollars through Prince Rupert Legacy, just over 8 million through borrowing from the Municipal Finance Authority.

The remainder will be making use of surplus, reserves and other Grants and Operational funding.

As part of their work for the evening, Council will review those plans and if approved set staff towards moving forward with the spending programs for the 2019 project list.

You can review the CFO's report to the City from page  15 of tonight's agenda.

For more items of note related to this evening's city Council session see our Preview page here.

A wider overview of past council discussion points can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review