Mayor Presses Staff & Council, To Minimize Budget Increases

Jeff Green | Jan 25, 2023

“If you go to the bank because you want to buy a house and you don't have the credit to buy the house, you don't buy the house.” - Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith.

With that analogy, the longstanding township mayor set the tone for the meeting, preparing her council colleagues for some of the spending adjustments that were included in the capital budget that was presented to a special council meeting last Thursday (January 19).

With preliminary numbers suggesting that inflationary pressures on operating costs were pushing the draft budget to an increase in the range of 7%, the mayor had already asked senior township staff to limit, or defer, capital spending in 2023.

This was reflected in the budget presentation by Public Works Manager Tysen Myers, with the most telling example being the construction project in the 4 km stretch of the Westport Road between Road 38 and the border with South Frontenac.

The road is in disrepair and needs to be resurfaced as soon as possible. It is an arterial running from Central Frontenac to major lakes in South Frontenac, and is the main access road to Westport and the Township of Rideau Lakes.

As well, as Myers pointed out, there are several active gravel pits along both the Central and South Frontenac sections of the road, and on nearby side roads, as well as the South Frontenac Public Works yard which is located very close to Central Frontenac.

“The heavy truck traffic on the road is significant, and it is recommended that Westport Road be paved with asphalt,” he said.

But the township is not in a position to pay close to a million dollars for one road project in a year when provincial road construction grants are hard to come by.

So, reluctantly, Myers is recommending that the road be done using less expensive “double surface treatment” for the Westport Road.

“The treatment will not last,” said Myers, “and we will have to apply a micro-surface treatment within 3-5 years so it will last a bit longer.”

Myers noted that the life cycle cost is higher for surface treatment, as compared to asphalt, for a road that gets as much traffic as the Westport gets, because asphalt will last three times as long, and the ongoing maintenance is lower as well.

“Are you saying that asphalt is cheaper in the long run, but you are recommending the surface treatment anyway?" asked Councillor Susan Irwin.

“Yes, it is more cost effective over time, but the up-front cost is higher,” said Myers.

“And we have reached our borrowing limit,” pointed out Mayor Smith.

Myers said that when doing the engineering work for the construction project this spring, his staff will do it in such a way that the project can be switched from surface treatment to asphalt if grant money becomes available.

The township is also planning some other smaller road projects this year, but one project, which is a priority for the two Kennebec Ward Councillors, Cindy Kelsey and Lynn Klages, is being deferred again.

The Henderson Road resurfacing project, budgeted at $800,000, is not on the 2023 list.

“The Henderson Road project is listed here for 2024,” said Klages, referring to the 5 year road construction breakdown that was provided to members of council.

“It's been shifted forward every year for 8 years,” said third term councillor Kelsey, “why should we believe that it won't be shifted again in 2024, as well?”

“We did do $600,000 of work on Henderson Road in the last couple of years,” Myers said. “As you know, it's up to Council to decide what roads to do.”

“Again, it's money, and it's the taxpayer paying for this, so we do the best we can,” said Smith.

It was not different when it came to equipment. Instead of purchasing the wheel mounted excavator, that the township leased from Hartington Equipment in a successful trial last year, it will lease it for another year at a lower cost. As well, plans for a new smooth drum roller to help with grading gravel roads, is being put on hold for a year.

The capital budget for the fire department was trimmed as well, mostly before the meeting. Instead of beginning the process to find a new location and build a firehall to serve Arden, Fire Chief McDonough brought a plan to invest $30,000 into the existing hall to make it serviceable for another few years.

“The construction price for a 50 -foot side by 60 foot long building is at least $1.5 million,” said McDonough, without taking into account the cost of land and a septic bed. But we need to do something, because we cannot recruit firefighters to work in that station as it stands. $30,000 is a stop-gap.”

One of the items remaining in the budget is a $120,000 purchase of a fully automatic generator capable of running the Oso Fire Hall and fuelling station for township vehicles on Wagner Road south of Sharbot Lake, the emergency control centre for the township. Plans for other similar purchases for the township office, and other fire halls and works yard, were deferred.

Central Frontenac County is meeting on January 30 at 1pm, in person at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake, to review the draft operating budget and to make final adjustments to the capital budget.