Red column haunts Montague council

Bills are now in and all the development and renovations may produce deficit of $32,000

MONTAGUE — It’s been a rollercoaster year in eastern P.E.I.’s largest town but the cost of the celebratory ride may produce a $32,000 deficit.

The bills are now in, and all the new pavement, extra gravel and renovations to an older building in the southside development here is costing more than expected, especially when you factor in the HST.

Town finance officer Jill Walsh provided the update to council here Monday night, suggesting it was only a “rough” forecast, but a few things are definitely turning red.

While not an overwhelming amount, the deficit now becomes the welcome mat for the new council to be selected Monday, Nov. 3, in provincewide civic elections.

“Who approved all this?’’ asked Coun. Jim Bagnall. “And how did we get here?”

Bagnall and other councillors discovered they approved the projects, but some of the rough estimates (needed to acquire provincial funding assistance during 2014) were low-balled and, in some cases, failed to include the HST.

The 2014 celebrations saw the town seek funds for some extra developments to spruce up the waterfront region on both sides of the river.

Those efforts earned rave reviews and drew an estimated 10,000 people to the town on the Canada Day weekend alone, but the additional costs are coming back to haunt.

Chief administrative officer Andy Daggett explained that in the quickness of getting jobs done, some of the projects were “packaged together” and funding could only be acquired from the province with professional “estimates” attached.

However, it’s now being discovered that some of those estimates were a little conservative and on others, the 14 per cent HST — believed to be included in the price — was not.

“We need some policies in place to ensure that all the costs are included before they reach council,’’ said Deputy Mayor David Mabon.

The overruns come from an extra $7,000 in costs refurbishing a building for the Artisans on Main project, additional costs related to paving the south side of the river in time for Canada Day celebrations, and the Princess Drive sidewalk project that required more work.