With the influx of millions in grant funding for municipal infrastructure projects, the municipality’s 2009 capital budget is being reopened to take advantage of the federal dollars.

Each of the 27 projects were discussed and individually voted on during the Feb. 3 council meeting. The councillors voted unanimously on all but the proposed community camera initiative, with Coun. Rico Damota and Coun. Mike Day dissenting.

The big ticket items in the capital budget are renovations to the Jasper Activity Centre/Aquatic Centre and the pedestrian underpass. The Municipality has received a $3 million Canada Building Fund grant and will contribute approximately $1.5 million from capital reserves for which is “shovel ready” said Coun. Day on Feb 3 and will be completed by 2011.

Since the budget was approved, municipal sustainability initiative (MSI) funding - the foundation of many capital projects - was reduced by 37 per cent. “It’s not responsible to just pretend that MSI money is going to be available in the future and that is in part why the budget is being reopened,” said Coun. Mike Day, who is also acting as the temporary mayor while Mayor Richard Ireland, Deputy Mayor Brenda Zinck and Acting Mayor Rico Damota are all out of town. The municipality has also not received revised MSI funding estimates from the province for future years, said municipal manager George Krefting.

“We are just trying to realign things to match the dollars that are coming in,” said Day. “The capital plan is a planning document,” said Krefting. “It’s an ever-changing situation because prices change and grant funding changes... you make adjustments as things go along,” he said.

Apart from the cuts to MSI funding, the $4.5 million activity centre renovation will go ahead and the $4.5 million library renovation will likely be going ahead, with the municipality contributing $1.5 million to the project. As well, the pedestrian underpass, which is out for tender and will affect the distribution of funds in the capital budget, is also slated for completion this year, as is the provincial building renovation with tendering going out soon.

The pedestrian underpass “could be above budget or under budget,” said Coun. Brian Skehill, adding that “we’re not sure how it’s going to be, so when it does come in, then we have to make adjustments.” The “capital budget is being adjusted constantly and that’s just the way it works. We just manage the change as it occurs,” Skehill said.

Director of finance and administration Alice Lettner takes a steady-as-we-go approach to managing the capital expenditures. Some of the money that will go towards the activity centre, library and provincial building renovations will be coming out of reserve funds. Asked if she is concerned with reopening the capital budget, Lettner said, “it isn’t when you receive an opportunity and that is also another huge advantage of having reserves. Not only can you address emergencies if they arise, but you also then have the funds to take advantage of opportunities,” she said. “If we had no reserves, we could not have even thought about applying for the library grant because we would have had no way to find matching money,” added Lettner.

“At this point in time, I’m confident we’ll be able to carry out the capital plan as projected,” said Krefting, adding that they are still applying for grant money and more revisions could be made to the capital budget, which will require council’s approval. “You have to be proactive and anticipate there will be curve balls out there,” said Lettner, “we can’t deficit budget,” she added.

Although not concerned with reopening the capital budget, Coun. Day did express concerns over the way the municipality receives funding. “At some level of government... there’s decisions being made that are clearly knee-jerk decisions that are not long-term sustainable planning decisions,” said Day. To get all the grant money is great, he said, but funded projects may not be congruent with municipal priorities, he added. “This current situation only highlights the shortcomings with our current funding mechanisms,” said Day.

Skehill was similarly positive in his appraisal of the current economic state of the municipality. As far as MSI funding is concerned, “once it’s cut, then we just end up getting money from other places,” he said, adding that, “overall, it’s all going to work out.”
“At the end of the day though, we cannot go back and ask for more money,” said Lettner of any possible funding shortfall for the current projects. We may have to eliminate some projects, she said. Additionally, Lettner explained that it would not be “logical” for the municipality to jack up taxes substantially next year if there are overbudget projects.

The revised capital budget will be back for council’s approval in July.