Council approves 3.93 per cent increase in Swift Current taxes
“That’s a complete re-do so that we can provide water to that area and definitely for growth.”
Another large capital expenditure will be $1.6 million to improve the area of 11th Ave. N.W. around the Transcanada Highway off and on ramps plus the North and South Service Roads. The full rehabilitation will involve a realignment of the roadway and traffic lights added to better control traffic.
“That’s a big one. We know it’s one of our busiest thoroughfare intersections, and we’ve known for a long time that it’s something we need to work on.”
“It’s a very busy intersection that requires a lot of capital dollars,” he explained. “We’ll be working on light standards, we’ll be working on meridians, and a re-do there definitely to help with traffic flow.”
Perrault said the overall the 2020 budget is not a glamorous budget compared to the needs the city prioritized to host an event like the 2019 Western Canada Summer Games.
“As far as glamorous we’re not talking about international events in 2020. To me what we’re talking about is maintaining great services for our residents and continuing to build for the future.”
Perrault explained the 2.18 per cent increase in the operating budget is primarily driven by additional costs arising from the Federal Carbon Tax, rising expenses for labour contract increases, plus a commitment to service.
The budget is anticipating an extra $150,000 will be needed as a direct result of a carbon tax, and that cost is being passed on to residents. The City is budgeting for just under $11,000 in carbon tax charges in the Light and Power Department, plus just over $40,000 in Water and Wastewater. The City is also starting to look at carbon reduction strategies with proposed carbon tax increases scheduled for 2021 and 2022.
“That has been the plan and the mandate set by our federal government, and we as municipalities don’t have a choice but to follow suit,” Perrault said of the increase.
City of Swift Current Chief Administrative Officer Tim Marcus noted that the city is exploring ways to reduce their carbon footprint in response to the Carbon Tax.
“We’re looking at potentially some solar things that we can do in order to reduce some electrical usage for our facilities,” he explained. “We’ve been in discussions with several providers to see what kinds of opportunities we can come up with.”
Mayor Perrault added they city has already changed the lighting at the Innovation Credit Union iplex and Fairview Arenas to LED lighting, and they are starting a multi-year plan to convert all city street lights to LED lighting, with downtown street lights already converted to LEDS.
“We believe we’ve got some ideas that hopefully we’ll be able to implement I’d say over the next few years,” Perrault said of some other efforts which are being explored.
A pair of potential expenditures are in the budget, but they will only proceed if the city receives matching grants from the provincial and federal government.
Swift Current is hoping to spend $1 million on a pair of flood mitigation projects this year, with