Members of council’s finance committee want to see LRT projects fast-tracked in the city’s 10-year capital plan.
Council, sitting as the standing committee on finance on Monday, had its first look at the 10-year municipal capital plan. The plan lists $571 million worth of construction projects to city roads, buildings, parks and other infrastructure. The plan is used to create future three-year capital budgets.
The city has identified just $268 million in funding for the projects, leaving the rest in an ‘unfunded’ category. Several councillors questioned administration’s recommendations to leave several transit and LRT projects in the latter category.
Coun. James Burrows was puzzled why the south park and ride transit station proposed near the Anthony Henday Drive interchange at St. Albert Trail is currently sitting unfunded for 2011.
“Premier Stelmach is talking about the Green TRIP funding — are we going to lose out on the funding if we wait another year?” Burrows asked, referencing the $4-billion provincial program for green projects, including $2 billion for public transit. So far, no dollars have been distributed to municipalities.
City manager Bill Holtby said the omission reflects simple dollars and cents.
“We have the plans, we just don’t have the money,” he said. “We can hope that we can get the province to fund it.”
Coun. Len Bracko said most of the projects presented so far are pretty straightforward, but added he would like to see LRT given a higher priority.
The plan identifies building an LRT station, a $25-million cost in 2020 that’s currently on the unfunded list. A separate LRT planning study for $1 million is proposed for the funded list for that same year.
“The LRT planning, I would like to see that moved up to next year,” Bracko said, referencing the need to fast-track plans in light of an Edmonton proposal to extend the LRT before the 2017 World Expo. “It’s a tremendous thing to bring the LRT to St. Albert. We need to get that before 2016.”
Bracko added that, while he would like to see the LRT project moved up, he understands the careful balance council must strike between changing projects around and ensuring there is matching funding.
“That gets complex, the funding,” he said. “Support for any new project needs to be looked at closely.”
Chief financial officer Dean Screpnek said administration’s recommended list of projects was the result of a review by senior management to determine what projects met council’s priority list.
“We’ve looked through everything and [senior management] made the decision about what changes would be needed,” he said.
Tourism will receive a boost through the 10-year plan, with $300,000 earmarked for the city’s new tourism strategy in 2011 and another $300,000 for entrance signage in 2011-12.
Several emergency service facilities will receive upgrades, including fire station No. 1 on Sir Winston Churchill Avenue, a $6.1-million project in 2012-13. The parking lot at the RCMP station is set for an expansion next year, a $220,000 cost.
City roads will receive a significant infusion, with $2.5 million annually proposed for arterial road resurfacing. Collector roads will receive another $3.8 million annually for overlays and reconstruction.
Several notable projects failed to make the funded list this year, including $10 million proposed in 2011-13 to implement downtown improvements through an area redevelopment plan. A new civic building remains on the unfunded list, a $32-million cost in 2014-16, as does a branch library ($20 million in 2012-14) and a new seniors’ centre ($3 million in 2012).
Monday’s review represented council’s first glimpse of capital spending priorities. In April the finance committee will review the city’s facility capital plan, while the 10-year utility capital plan is set for June. All three plans will be discussed behind closed doors on June 23.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said during the Monday meeting that he didn’t want to make any decisions on the various projects until he had a better idea of the whole funding and project picture.
Holtby said that once the committee has discussed the capital projects and made any changes public, administration would spend the summer preparing a report that would detail the repercussions of the changes for council’s consideration.
Council is set to review the three-year capital budget in September.
