Township switching on LED lighting
HAVELOCK - Federal funds given to Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township have allowed the municipality to install new LED lights and make a plan for the future.
The township received $187,114 from two federal government programs. Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef announced the funding in township council chambers in Havelock on Tuesday.
In her remarks, Monsef said the money would benefit infrastructure projects determined by township officials, because they know where it’s needed best.
“It’s important that we trust the capacity of the leadership in these communities to know what their communities need and to understand the priorities going forward,” Monsef said.
The funding includes $49,600 from the Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP) and $137,514 from the 2017-18 federal gas tax fund allocation.
In 2017, Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township received $49,600 through the MAMP to complete an assessment management policy.
The plan will help township officials with future decision-making in terms of investments, for example.
The spending includes improvements to critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and water and sewer facilities.
Roughly 70 per cent of the municipality’s funding expenditures are directed towards those areas, said Ron Gerow, mayor of the township.
Much of the township’s infrastructure, like most of eastern Ontario, was constructed in the 1950s or before, he added.
“A lot of it is at a stage where it needs to be replaced,” Gerow said.
The Assessment Management Policy was also needed to help secure future funding from both federal and provincial levels. “Without (the plan) ... we will not be a position to take advantage of those programs unless we have a full accredited asset management plan,” he said.
And without future support from the government, the improvements to infrastructure would be impossible.
“There is no way that a municipality the size of ours or any similar municipality in Ontario could do the infrastructure work that we are going to have to undertake over the next 25 to 50 years without this critical partnership.”
The $137,514 the township received was put towards new LED lights throughout Havelock and the township.
Again, Gerow said the switch to more efficient lighting would be a struggle without the government’s backing.
“Some of these projects would not be possible at all without this stream of funding, it’s very, very important to us as a municipality.”