The Fort Frances draft 2024 capital budget was presented for deliberation to council Monday night in a special session. The presentation explored a range of expenditures and cuts – and a warning to council of the town’s precarious financial position.
The total capital budget for the town came in at $19,690.373. Of that, $3,000,142 is coming from a variety of municipal reserve funds, and $5,786,737 is coming from the water and sewer reserve fund, which is replenished through water and sewer fees. The remainder of the budget is coming from $8,759,412 in provincial grants, $1,039,771 from the federal gas tax reserve, $800,516 in federal grants, and $299,795 is donations or contributions from others.
According to town staff, the budget presented is a bare bones budget, which came after many rounds of cuts and internal debate. The projects approved for expenditure were those which staff deemed to be necessary, and unable to wait for another year.
There were several projects cancelled throughout the budget-making process, for a savings of $1,145,688. They included: upgrades to the Civic Centre’s treasury office, server room and upstairs washrooms; a variety of upgrades to the Sorting Gap Marina; a stand-by generator for the water tower; the replacement of the roof on the Public Works building, the replacement of Truck 190 with a new 1/2 tonne and the replacement of the retaining wall on King’s Hwy between Webster and Lillie.
According to Interim CAO Travis Rob, staff is concerned by the slim state of several reserve funds. These funds channel money to their specific portfolio, and form “seed money” which allow the Yown to apply for large scale project grants, many of which require a certain percentage of the cost to be paid by the municipality.
Of particular concern is the Corporate Vehicle/Equipment reserve fund, which is projected to be $529,310.54, by the end of 2024. Similarly, the corporate building fund is projected to be $565,894.92 by the end of 2024.
“We’ve got a tandem truck that we cut out of the budget this year. That’s $350,000, so there’s most of your vehicle reserve gone. For corporate buildings, we have a large project at the Memorial Sports Center. I’m not convinced that the money that’s in there is going to finish that project, the way that it’s sitting at the end of 2024,” said Rob. “So, we’ve already made commitments in some of these reserves that over the duration of that commitment is going to whittle them down to pretty close to zero. So yeah, those are definitely concerning levels. They’re definitely well below where we where we need them to be.”
Similarly, the Capital Projects reserve, which funds road reconstruction, will be $2,437,657.97 – the cost of perhaps two roads projects, if the town needed to cover them without grants, Rob noted.
Although he cautioned that those reserve funds are low, he and the senior staff are comfortable with the budget presented, and encouraged council to accept it in principal; by getting that approval, staff can move ahead on purchases and tenders early, which would help secure better pricing, he noted.
Staff have already whittled down many of the costs, and found work-arounds where they could.
“We have some huge, very expensive equipment that do things like plow roads, that are both getting up there in age and are nearing a point where they need to be replaced. And at this point in time, we don’t have the money to replace them. So that’s why we’re spending $30,000 on floating piece of equipment to Thunder Bay to get it repaired because the alternative is we can’t afford to replace it,” he said.
Although he cautioned that those three reserve funds were low, he and the senior staff were comfortable with proceeding with the capital budget as presented.
To ensure sound future planning, staff is currently working on an updated asset management plan, which is expected to be completed by July, 2024.
Council agreed to let the draft capital budget pass in principal. It will come back to council as a by-law to be passed at a later date. Until then, it is available online for public scrutiny, and all members of council are available to the public to hear concerns or comments, noted Mayor Andrew Hallikas.
Monday’s meeting was the first in a series of budget deliberations. All will be held publicly, and can be attended in person or online. The agenda is posted two days prior to the meeting, and the full budget report is available within the agendas. Future deliberations are scheduled for: Monday, Dec. 4, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024 and Monday, March 4, 2024.
Some of the highlights from the Draft Capital Budget are:
ROAD RECONSTRUCTION
- A pair of roads are up for reconstruction in the budget, contingent on funding coming through. The federal gas tax and an anticipated provincial grant are planned to be used to reconstruct Third St W between Central Ave and York Ave, including sidewalks and storm sewer upgrades. An expected provincial grant would cover all but $291,265 of the reconstruction of Scott Street, between Reid and Mosher, including sidewalks.
- The reconstruction of 1st Street East, from Mowat to Central is also budgeted, with funds being supplied from a provincial grant.
- The underpass bridge is being budgeted for rehabilitation, with the $500,000 coming in from the federal gas tax.
- The town is also budgeting $340,000 in reserve funding for high priority resurfacing. On the shortlist are: School Road from Mill Rd to Idylwild Drive; 5th St W from Wright to McIrvine; 6th St W from Keating to Lillie; 6th St W from Lillie to York; and 5th St from Portage to Wright.
- A sidewalk along King’s Hwy, connecting 1st Street and Webster is also budgeted for, with a cost of $70,000. This was the third year this stretch of sidewalk had been requested by the public. (An additional public request – a left turning lane at the corner of Second and Portage – will be addressed by operations through the use of an advance green signal at that intersection.)
CULTURE AND RECREATION
- The Town has budgeted $95,000 for upgrades to Townshend Theatre, including sound equipment, lobby flooring and stage covering. The Townshend’s reserve fund is replenished through rental fees.
- The Memorial Sports Centre is scheduled for a variety of upgrades, including a refurbishing of the men’s sauna, design work for pool change room upgrades, the replacement of tables and chairs, along with electrical repairs, squash court upgrades, a front desk design, a cellular amplifier and upgrades to the zamboni pad, at a projected cost of $410,042, with $124,333 budgeted from reserves, and the remainder supplied through federal and provincial grants.
- The Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre has $49,750 in upgrades in its budget, including computer equipment, video surveillance, and a variety of small upgrades.
AIRPORT
- Design for Runway resurface, Lighting replacement & Field improvements, at a cost of $125,000 from reserve funds. That design work will also explore an expansion of the runway, which will attract more usage by ministry planes during forest fire season.
SHEVLIN WOODYARD
- Environmental and remediation costs in the Shevlin Woodyard have been carried forward from 2023, while that work is being completed. An additional $50,000 each for water and sewer has been budgeted for linear infrastructure design work in the Shevlin Woodyard. Those designs will guide the construction phase of infrastructure and roads in the woodyard in 2025, noted Rob.
SUNNY COVE
- A budget of $715,000 has been carried forward from the 2023 budget as remediation work continues on the campground. A provincial grant of $500,000 will cut the budgeted municipal cost to $215,000, being pulled from the Corporate Building Reserve Fund.
