City Capital Budget

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City Capital Budget

Tuesday, 20 January 2015 at 06:49

It's going to come down to a matter of needs over wants for Woodstock's 2015 capital budget.

WOODSTOCK - Woodstock City Council has plenty of capital budget requests and only so much money to work with.

Big requests on the table include the Woodstock Police Service building addition and the Woodall Recreation Complex. County/City Councillor Sandra Talbot said, "the police station addition definitely has to go forward, that's something that has been on the books for a while...as the city grows it costs more--large projects of course will cause our debenture load to go higher in order to fund them."

Woodstock Police are asking for a number of capital improvements for 2015 including radio enhancements and upgrades to the 911 call centre.

Police Chief Bill Renton said the building expansion is a long time coming, "we are very hopeful (that the expansion will get approved for the budget)...we are in a building built in 1985, it's tired it's getting old. There's a lot more resources and people working there and we definitely need the expansion."

Another major project on the table is phase one of the Woodall Recreation Complex. Director of Parks and Recreation Brian Connors said, "phase one is 4.9 million but the majority of that is development charges, 900 hundred thousand would be debt."

When asked if he thought the Woodall project would be approved for the capital budget, "I'm not sure, it's a new council, it's a big commitment and it's something that council will have to weigh what are the priorities...we have had consultants come in too determine if these fields are needed and they are."

With all the major capital projects on the table, Connors says it is possible the Woodall Complex could get delayed.

"It certainly could, it could be pushed back another year it depends what council believes it is a priority item."

Connors hopes his request for creating online registration will make it easier for parents.

"I think the online registration will go a long way in helping parents register their children for programs in the future, we have had some complaints that you have stand in line for a long time."

Connors also warned council that the Southside Aquatic Centre pool will need to be replaced in 2016. The pool is over 20 years old.

Another concern regarded the condition of Woodstock area roads. Harold de Haan City Engineer pointed out over the last 6 to 8 years the condition of the roads have been deteriorating, "we have basically three million dollars worth of road reconstruction spread out through various roads, that's basically the biggest item that's on there."

de Haan says this is the biggest capital budget he's seen in recent years.

The three million includes one million for asphalt and two million for road reconstruction. de Haan added that the biggest road construction area being proposed is Springbank from Nellis to James Street which includes the intersection at Springbank and Dundas-- that's one of the busiest areas of town.

de Haan also mentioned the highly needed replacement of their snow blower truck which has been in operation for over 40 years and broke down last weekend. The city has had to substitute less effective equipment for snow removal which takes longer to clear the roads.