A year or so ago Council received a report that clearly indicated that a majority of our municipal roads and sidewalks were rated in poor and very poor condition. The report speculated that it would take 22 years to get these substandard roads and sidewalks up to an acceptable level. In response Council has embarked on a 4 year plan that will accelerate the road resurfacing and sidewalk replacement program by significantly increasing funding. If all goes well this strategy will put us in a manageable position within 4 years perhaps 3. I support this new aggressive program now and will, if elected, support it in the future.
It is however important to put this new 3/4 year road and sidewalk improvement strategy in perspective. As a proponent of this accelerated plan I think it’s important to remind the taxpayer that this is not pain free new-found money. The ten-year capital plan projections have not changed and are still predicated on built-in tax increases and significant debt and debt service costs. Although we have shifted our priorities within the plan the tax increase strategy created by the Mayors budget veto still results in future Councils having to deal with base tax increases of approximately 4 % by year ten. These are tax increases that do not include operational inflation pressures, wage increases, potential budget shocks from Police, Fire and Social Services or the dreaded and increasingly frequent unforeseen circumstance.
The roads and sidewalk improvement acceleration is long overdue but there is in my opinion still work to be done in regards to the long term financing of this program.
The Engineering Dept. led by Jamie Galoway and Jeff Hunter deserve credit for first off -bringing forward the initial report June/2025 that very clearly identified this infrastructure challenge and this year providing a solution that Council could support.
