It could cost the city nearly $50 million to repair, maintain and replace roads, bridges and utility infrastructure next year, according to a recent report at council.
St. Albert city council was presented with the draft 2024 repair, maintain, and replace (RMR) municipal and utility budgets during the May 9 committee of the whole meeting, with administration saying the budgets amount to $53.26 million, and cover 38 individual projects.
Each year the RMR budget is finalized ahead of the city's overall budget in order to better assess and determine which capital and growth projects can be funded the following year.
The RMR program is limited specifically to projects that maintain city service levels. As such, administration assumes a 1.5 per cent property tax increase when preparing each annual budget for council's consideration as costs continue to increase year-over-year as the community grows and municipal infrastructure and equipment gets older and worn down.
For the 25 municipal RMR projects planned for next year, which excludes utility projects, the draft budget has set aside about $31.27 million, council heard.
Included in the project list is nearly $1 million for turf replacement, dressing room upgrades, and fire alarm replacements at Servus Place; $1 million dedicated to repairing city sidewalks, although in unspecified locations; nearly $13 million in already-approved funding for repairs and maintenance at St. Albert Place, and more.
“(St. Albert Place) opened in 1884 and has not seen any significant building upgrades in this time,” reads the project charter.
The maintenance includes upgrades to the waterfall and pond near the building's entrance, and significant green retrofits as the Gazette reported in March when the city announced that the federal government had awarded the city a $5.7 million grant through the Green and Inclusive Buildings program.
The nearly $13 million included in the RMR budget accounts for the federal grant, although council heard earlier this month that a requirement of the grant is to have all construction completed before September of 2025. With the rushed timeline, on May 2 council approved front-ending the full cost of the St. Albert Place project in order for administration to get started right away to avoid missing the grant deadline.
On the utility side of the draft RMR budget, some high cost projects planned for next year include $4.9 million in repairs to the Oakmont water reservoir and pumpstation, and about $5.3 million for continued maintenance to the city's stormwater outfalls along the Sturgeon River and future planning for the ongoing sedimentation and erosion control program.
In all, the draft utility side of the RMR budget includes nearly $22 million to fund 13 projects.
The committee of the whole's discussion of the draft RMR budgets was limited to councillors asking for additional details on certain projects. No amending motions were put forward.
In an interview, Coun. Ken MacKay said for the time being he didn't have any concerns about the draft budget.
“From a high level I don't have any concerns,” he said. “At this particular moment, I don't have any additional motions around taking one off or adding one ... but that's not to say I won't, just right now I don't see anything.”
Coun. Shelley Biermanski said her main points of interest were future estimates attributable to the city's plan to purchase a couple of new transit busses in 2025, and estimates attributable to the planned replacement or maintenance of some public works vehicles next year.
“It's a pretty big commitment,” Biermanski said of the $9.25 million estimated to be needed in 2025 to replace a couple of transit buses.
“I'm not quite sure when ridership is down why it's all that much money still.”
Coun. Sheena Hughes said her main concern was that much of the city's 2024 budget for multi-use trail maintenance ($175,000) was reallocated to support the sidewalk maintenance mentioned previously.
In response to Hughes' question about the reallocation during the May 9 meeting, the city's transportation manager, Dean Schick, said administration determined that sidewalk maintenance was a higher priority for 2024, although there's no identified risk for the city's multi-use trails.
The draft budget still allocates $50,000 for the multi-use trail maintenance, which the project charter states will be used to survey trails and design any identified repair work to be completed in future years.
Hughes said in the meeting she will consider putting forward a motion to fund the multi-use trail program at the full amount of $225,000.
Council has until May 19 to submit motions to make any changes to the RMR budget, which is scheduled to be finalized during the June 6 council meeting.
Any changes or un-funding of projects would have no effect on next year's property tax rates as all project funding is obtained through reserves, grants, and are covered through administration's capital funding formula, according to a council backgrounder prepared by city financial controller Deborah Johnson.
