There will be less money available for water projects after funding was cut to the Water for Life Program in last week’s provincial budget.
The March 26 provincial budget includes $30 million a year for the Water for Life program, down from $50 million, and $25 million a year for wastewater projects, for a total of $55 million a year for three years. Funding will then rise to $80 million for Water for Life in the following two years.
The Town of Okotoks has sought funding from the program to pay for a water pipeline from Okotoks.
Mayor Bill Robertson said the decrease is not a major concern at this point because the Town doesn’t need money for a pipeline this year, however, it is looking for a commitment in the coming years.
“This year’s money, next year’s money… we want to start planning the pipeline and when it actually gets built is when we need it. We need the money for two or three years down the road,” he said.
Highwood MLA Danielle Smith said the reduced funding for Water for Life projects will not be enough to deal with the nearly $800 million backlog of requests for funding from the program, including the Okotoks pipeline.
“We only have a three-year projection for where we’re looking at for Water for Life projects and we still don’t have a firm date on when the Okotoks water pipeline is going to be in the queue,” she said. “Good news is by the time we get to year three there will be substantially more dollars invested in that program.”
MD Reeve Larry Spilak also said the reduction in water for life funding is disappointing.
The MD was hoping to get funding from the Water for Life program to build a water pipeline to Millarville from Black Diamond/Turner Valley.
However, he is glad to see the Province left infrastructure funding intact and that the southwest leg of the Calgary Ring Road will go ahead. The road will connect with Highway 22X north of Red Deer Lake.
He said the MD still has concerns with how its roads will connect with the ring road. However, with a commitment from the provincial government to move forward, he said the MD will be able to plan its own road network to connect with the ring road.
“We’re happy to see it go ahead, get is started and that way we can build our roads and infrastructure to meet up with the new roads,” he said. “That’s important to us, until those are in place we can’t start ours.”
The Province is also maintaining funding for municipal infrastructure projects.
The budget will cut spending to the Municipal Sustainability Initiative; but after factoring in a $400 million funding boost announced last month, MSI funding will be up by $25 million.
In the weeks leading up to the budget, the provincial government provided an extra $400 million to the MSI for the remainder of the 2014/15 budget year.
Under the department's five-year business plan, $879.6 million in MSI funding is estimated for 2015.
Spilak said it’s positive the provincial government is moving to maintain funding for the program next year.
“We can continue to budget the way we were,” he said.
