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Turner Valley council cuts capital budget in half

Council approves deferring $630,000 worth of projects to next year's capital budget deliberations to lighten the financial load.
Turner Valley Muni Building
Turner Valley Town council cut three capital projects that were approved in the 2020 budget last fall. (Wheel File Photo)

Turner Valley council cut this year’s capital expenses in half in preparation for an uncertain future amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

At its April 6 council meeting, Council passed three motions to defer projects totalling $630,000 from this year's budget to its 2021 capital budget deliberations this fall to lighten the financial load on the Town this year.

The idea to revisit the $1,173,300 capital budget - approved last fall - was made by Coun. Jamie Wilkie.

“My views behind wanting to bring this back is the environment has changed so drastically,” Wilkie told council Monday. “I wanted to make sure we’re still comfortable with proceeding with a lot of these. I’m well aware that the majority of these are funded through grants of various nature or offsite levies, but given where the world is headed I don’t know where we are going to be come September. Is there items on this list that, come October, we look at and think to ourselves ‘I wish we had those dollars available’ for whatever priority we may have at that time.”

Among the deferred projects is the storm, sanitary and road upgrade on Gooding Lane from Windsor Avenue to Sunset Blvd. Two thirds of the $460,000 project will be covered by offsite levies with the remaining coming from reserve funds, council learned.

The decision was made in a split vote, with some councillors saying the project can wait as development on Gooding Lane likely won’t happen any time soon in the current economic situation and others saying completing the project this year will result in the least amount of disruption to businesses.

Coun. Jonathan Gordon said with a sewer main replacement scheduled to occur on nearby Sunset Blvd. in 2021, the Gooding Lane project should be completed this year for the least amount of interruption to businesses.

“We agreed to do Gooding Lane this year and Sunset next year so the businesses don’t have as much interruptions to deal with,” he said. “Business interruptions is not going to happen this summer (if businesses remain closed) so why not get the work done?”

Coun. Garry Raab agreed the interruption would be less if the project goes ahead this year.

“We probably won’t see any huge development downtown in the next couple of months,” he said. “Right now business is very slow.”

Coun. Cindy Holladay argued that with the current recession, there isn’t any urgency to complete the project this year.

“The decision was made based on there being economic development potential for some of our downtown businesses,” she said. “Any grant dollars we save now that we can use for Sunset will make a difference in the tax bill for residents.”

Coun. Lana Hamilton agreed, saying she doesn’t expect a huge demand for lot purchases on Main Street this year after so many businesses have closed their doors in light of COVID-19.

“The whole idea was that getting the storm sewer to those parcels would make the saleability of them more desirable,” she said.

Council was also split in its decision to defer $100,000 from reserve funds to the 2021 budget process to create a walking trail from the south end of Robert Street to Turner Gate and the east to Turner Drive to connect to the Sheep River, as well as begin developing Arrowhead Park.

While councillors agreed the walking trail can wait, some felt work on Arrowhead Park should begin this year. The project proposes a parking lot, walking trail, off-leash dog park, washroom facilities, pump track and observation deck on seven acres of Town-owned land west of Decalta Road on the south side of the Sheep River.

Mayor Barry Crane said the Town should spend half of the $100,000 on the park this year, even if it means just completing the parking lot.

Councillors Raab and Gordon agreed, yet the remaining councillors said the project should wait a year.

Wilkie said the plan to get the community involved with cleaning up the property this spring won’t occur if social distancing regulations remain in place.

“A key thing on Arrowhead Park was to try to leverage what we have out there in the community and it’s just not feasible in this environment,” he said. “As much as it pains me, I don’t see either of these items as a need to spend right now.”

Holladay agreed, saying she isn’t confident Town staff could allocate resources to Arrowhead Park this year.

“I was under the impression that developing that road in was going to take a lot of parks staff time, which we don’t know what that is going to look like because we don’t know who is going to get sick and what things are going to get thrown at us,” she said. “As much as I would love to get that done I’m worried about the amount of staff time the parks will have going forward.”

A project councillors unanimously agreed to defer to the 2021 budget deliberations this fall is new sidewalks, with a price tag of $75,000.

Coun. John Waring said the Pedestrian Safety Task Force proposed sidewalks be constructed between Sunset Blvd. and Turner Valley School five or six years ago, and that it can wait another year.

“That’s something I would like to see get done, but if it means we can save money for something that’s more expensive that’s also good,” he said.

For updated information, follow our COVID-19 special section for the latest local and national news on the coronavirus pandemic, as well as resources, FAQs and more.

Tammy Rollie, OkotoksToday.ca

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