Wawa Municipal Council's adopted its first capital budget of the new term - with some provisional items.
Less than a week after the draft capital budget was presented, Council voted to approve the document, which includes over $4.6-million in already committed and otherwise recommended projects, though only $427-thousand of that would come from taxation, with $1.2-million from municipal reserves, and the more than $3-million left expected to come from outside funding.
Already committed projects make up $3.27-million of that total - with the municipal contribution expected to be a little over $1-million - with projects including the ongoing reconstruction of Toronto Avenue, the Waterfront Project, work on Pinewood Drive, lower Government Road, and Scenic High Falls Park, the landfill expansion, now-completed repairs at the Community Centre, the THM study, and the liquefied natural gas study.
Rounding out the $4.6-million total is nearly $1.4-million in "staff-recommended projects" - about $625-thousand of it to come from the municipality - including two projects currently "under review": a new tanker for the Fire Department, whose current tanker is considered obsolete with difficulty finding parts; and a new fuel system for Public Works.
That latter project was discussed again last night, with Infrastructure Services Director Cory Stainthorpe noting he's nearly finished a report requested by Councillor Pat Tait comparing costs for switching to a card-lock system at a private business rather than fixing the current underground system used by the entire municipal fleet or replacing it with a new above-ground system.
The capital budget also recommends four projects totalling roughly $9.5-million - about $1-million from municipal coffers - that would be subject to outside funding: the proposed reconstruction of the "Connecting Link" section of Mission Road and Main Street; the reconstruction of "School Zone" roads; as-yet unspecified upgrades to the Community Centre; and replacement of playground equipment at a park in the Mission.
With the capital budget now approved, Council's expected to see the draft operating budget in early June, so it can be approved before the end of the month.