Major investment

County Council passes 2022 capital budget

Last week, County Council approved an $18.5 million capital budget for 2022 after three days of discussion. These funds are used for repairs, rehabilitation and reconstruction of things the County owns—assets including roads, bridges and buildings. Council also approved $56.1 million in spending for water and wastewater upgrades.

WATERWORKS
Budgeting for waterworks—both operating and capital—is tabulated as a separate business. It is funded entirely by consumers through the water bill and by builders through connection charges, rather than property tax payers. The County will spend $56.1 million in capital in 2022.

Of this budget, $49.5 million is earmarked for the construction in Wellington of new water and wastewater plants, a new water tower, an equalization tank, and sanitary sewers to support new housing development.

The County says $37.8 million of the infrastructure improvements in Wellington in 2022 will be funded by development charges, which are fees collected by the municipality from developers. The remaining $11.7 million is identified as benefiting existing customers, meaning current users will foot the bill, which will be debt-serviced over a 30-year term.

A PLACE FOR SAND
It’s been nearly two years since the salt dome on County Road 2 was damaged in a wind storm. Staff added the replacement of the structure onto a list of additional options, for Council to discuss. The total replacement cost of the building is $1.25 million, with $460,000 of the funds coming from an insurance claim payment. That leaves $799,557 to be debt-serviced. The building would be constructed of steel and topped with a heavy duty tarp. Director of Operations Adam Goheen told Council that some of the foundation work is already complete as the site had to be excavated in order for geotechincal work to be completed. Councillor Phil Prinzen asked if the County had looked at building a similar structure to what was there, on the remaining foundation, as the tarp is only good for 10 to 15 years. He also wondered what effect the salt would have on the steel. “I’ve dealt with coverall structures and I know you’re talking a $50,000 tarp again in 10 years or less.”

Goheen noted the County had looked at building on what was there, but that the foundation was old and likely any engineering design would require improvement. He said that the proposed structure is a superior longer term solution. “The membrane has a significant warranty to it and should last at least as long as shingles would,” said Goheen, who also noted he had experience with several of these structures at the previous municipality that he worked at.

Councillor Janice Maynard said the storage facility is an absolute necessity. “I’m going to support this. I am surprised it is an optional item and not a requirement. This is core to what we do, which is provide safe roads,” said Maynard.

A new salt storage structure was approved.

TRUCKS AND SUCH
The County will spend just over $2 million on vehicles in the 2022 tax year. Three years ago, Council approved a plan to bring some of its winter plough routes in-house. This means outfitting the municipality with new trucks: $630,300 will be spent on two new trucks with winter implements to support winter maintenance. The Prince Edward County Fire Department will also purchase a new pumper truck at a cost of $397,000. A new land ambulance at a cost of $197,000 will be purchased, as well as a fleet of new light duty vehicles with a price tag of $154,800.

One item of contention was a new gravel road grader, which will be purchased at a cost of $480,000. The entire cost of this unit will be debt-serviced. Currently, the County owns two graders, a 2005 model and a 2008 model. Both are forecasted for replacement, but staff is suggesting to purchase a new unit now and run three graders, and alleviate the risk of downtime. The graders are used for loose top road maintenance, of which the County has 163 kilometres. It is also used for shoulder grading and during rural road rehabilitation program as the County performs final road grading in house.

Councillor Brad Nieman asked about the staffing for the new grader. “Even if we have a new machine, and we have three machines, are these machines going to be going all the time? It sounds like we don’t have the people to operate the machines that we have now,” said Nieman.

Goheen acknowledged that staffing options were limited for the grader. “That’s a question that I would imagine people in my position all across Ontario are asking. The grader is one of, if not the hardest piece of equipment to become very proficient with. Certainly it is a problem. We have a plan in place should this be approved by Council that we have the staffing numbers. But we recognize that we have a workforce that needs to learn and train,” said Goheen.

The new road grader was approved

ROADS
The always hot topic of County Roads was at the forefront of budget discussions. Of the $18.5 million capital budget, nearly $12.5 million is allocated to roads, bridges and infrastructure. A rehabilitation of Picton Main Street, from Bridge Street to Spencer Street, is in the works for 2022. Picton’s current Main Street infrastructure is now 70 years old and has reached the end of its life with a deteriorating road and underground services. The total project cost is over $6 million—with $2.8 million being budgeted In 2022—and will be paid in part by an OCIF grant. $2.7 million will go towards the rural road surface maintenance program. County Road 4, from the Millennium Trail to County Road 34 will be revitalized, at a cost of $3,500,000. The County has received $2,355,232 from a Canadian Community Building Fund, as well as $640,533 from an OCIF grant to put towards the project.

County Road 49 was a large topic of discussion during deliberations. Staff had put a section of the roadway, from the Skyway Bridge to Fish Lake Road, as an additional option, at a cost of $7.9 million. It would be debt-serviced for 30 years, at an annual cost of $455,100. If approved, it would have added just over 1 per cent onto the levy. Speaking to the road, Director of Operations Adam Goheen said the road in general is a significant burden on the operations department. “We spend quite a bit of time patching that road. We deploy two crews, twice a week. We have four staff out there patching continually for their entire shifts,” said Goheen. “If we address the issue with the surface then we will tangibly be able to allocate those resources elsewhere, because as we all know, we have patching needs all around the County.” Goheen estimated that this four kilometre section costs the County around $30,000 per year just to patch.

Councillor Bill Roberts noted that many motorists and transports are choosing to use County Road 15 instead of taking the risk on 49, which is causing to an earlier deterioration of that road. He also noted that the County has already invested hundreds of thousands in studies and research, all of which points to the road needing to be replaced, and he believed debt-servicing is the best way to get it done. “It was constructed in 1965. That is 56 years old. In 2016, CAA listed County Road 49 as the worst road in Ontario. It is important to note that what the CAA included in that year as part of their calculation, was the number of hazardous tow truck and repair truck servicing on County Road 49. That I can only imagine has continued since then,” he said. Roberts also pointed out that in 2017, a road condition assessment was completed by Associate Engineering Limited, and a geotechnical investigation was completed by Englobe Corporation that officially deemed the overall condition of County Road 49 as very poor, and in need of replacement. “In July of this year, our own municipal project manager, Jewell Engineering, went on to warn that the service defects include severe joint failures, meandering cracking and polishing of the surface, and it can no longer be repaired,” added Roberts. “I think if we don’t deal with the first part, we are never going to get provincial or federal support. They will never fund the whole thing, and this is the worst part of the road,” he added.

CAO Marcia Wallace acknowledged there has been talks with the Province, and their suggestion was to break the road into pieces and apply for each piece separately. “Everyone has broken roads, so it is very difficult to get to the top of the list,” said Wallace. “The price is only going up every year we wait.” Wallace explained that the only reason County Road 49 wasn’t included in the capital budget was due to the debt financing. As it has a direct impact to the levy, staff thought Council should have the final decision.

The motion to add County Road 49 into the 2022 capital budget failed, after a tie vote.

OTHER BITS
One other highlight is the approval of a backup generator for the Wellington and District Community Centre at a cost of $515,000. This will be debt-serviced. The generator will allow the entire faciity to stay functional in the case of a power outage. It will also allow the building to be used as a gathering point in case of an emergency.

OPERATING BUDGET
Council will look over the municipal operating budget in February, 2022. The proposed operating budget is still in draft form, but includes a 2.35 per cent tax levy increase. Some councillors were questioning why the capital and operating budgets were not presented together—a first for the municipality. CAO Marcia Wallace explained there is still work to do on the operating budget. “The reason we separated these two budgets is to make capital long-term decisions regardless of what the operational needs are,” said Wallace, who also noted Council needed to be mindful when approving the capital budget. “Understanding that if there is debt undertaken as part of the capital budget, that would be something we then need to consider how it will impact the operation budget going forward,” she said.

Councillor Janice Maynard noted that splitting the two is the norm in many municipalities. “I’d just like to remind councillors why we separate capital from operating. It’s really the norm in a lot of municipalities and we do capital separately because that is our long range planning and really should be considered before our day-to-day expenditures.”