The City of Estevan has some big plans for 2012 and they won't be cheap.
The City unveiled its 2012 budget during its first budget meeting last Wednesday at council chambers. According to the numbers presented at the meeting - which are subject to change - a property tax increase is not expected for 2012.
As presented, the financial plan forecasts a total operating revenue of $26.778 million in 2012 and expenditures of $20.828 million for a surplus of $5.950 million. However, once the capital expenditures are factored in, that surplus shrinks to a much more modest $116,621.
Mayor Gary St. Onge said he was happy to see the amount of work included in the budget and that no property tax increase was needed to cover it.
"I was surprised that we had as much in there without an increase in taxation," he said. "There is a lot of stuff in there."
Although there is no property tax increase expected for 2012, Estevan residents are not getting away completely unscathed. St. Onge said the City has decided to increase the health levy from .35 mills to half a mill. The increase is expected to bring in another $60,000 to $70,000.
"We need more money," St. Onge said when asked about the increase. "It's costing us more than we thought. We have more doctors on the move. We leased Dr. Padayachee's clinic because February 1 for sure, we will have one doctor in there and we have about eight or nine on the list, if we get them all. We need places for other doctors so we had to lease that and that was a fair amount of money."
The City and RM of Estevan began collecting money for the health levy in 2011 and the funds have produced positive results for residents. Along with bringing new doctors to the city, the committee that governs the money collected by the levy also purchased a new ultrasound machine for St. Joseph's Hospital. Despite that success, St. Onge hopes the City will be able to get out of the health-care business in the near future and focus on other matters.
"We are really hopeful that a year from now, we will be done that part of it and we can just keep that levy in place for the next five years and put our money into the nursing home."
St. Onge added that a handful of other area RMs have joined with the City and RM of Estevan in contributing to the health levy.
The numerous capital expenditures were the focus of last week's meeting as the heads of the various City departments had the opportunity to make presentations to council.
Provided all goes as planned, 2012 will be a very busy year for the City as a number of important projects were presented to council.
Among the highlights in the engineering services budget is the much talked about Highway 47 revitalization. Through an arrangement with the provincial government, which will see both sides chip in money, the sections of Highway 47 that run through Estevan will be resurfaced. The watermains, sanitary and storm sewers in the affected area will also be replaced as part of the project. According to figures in the budget document, the total cost of the project is $13 million, however, it did not say how much of that total the City would have to pick up.
St. Onge said the north portion of Highway 47 - from the city limits to the railroad tracks - will be completed in 2012. The cost for the work is $5.2 million.
The east side of Estevan will also be a focus in 2012. There are two projects budgeted for Devonian Street - one to construct a set of lights at the intersection of Kensington and Devonian at a cost of $500,000. The lights were deemed necessary because of the increase in traffic on Kensington and the subsequent difficulty vehicles have had getting from Devonian onto the avenue.
A local improvement project on Devonian is also included. The cost of the project is $2.5 million with $2 million coming from property owners in the area.
Kensington Avenue will also see some work as $875,000 has been budgeted to repair the section of the avenue from King Street to the Estevan Comprehensive School.
Other projects include the resurfacing of King Street from Kohaly Avenue to Roddy Road, the reconstruction of the road and drainage system on the south leg of Milne Crescent.
The capital portion of the public works budget is comprised mainly of equipment. Among the items included was a new street sweeper which has a price tag of $225,000, a new loader, five new pickup trucks and a truck with a rotary boom for the airport.
The upcoming year is also shaping up to be a busy one for the land services department. Among the items in their budget are three projects from 2011 - Dominion Heights Phase 3, residential development on land near the hospital and the Wellock Road expansion.
For 2012, the budget included the construction of an access road to 18 acres of land located behind Walmart which the City has sold to private developers and the development of a new road from King Street east to Nesbitt Drive. All land services projects would be funded by future lot sales.
The leisure services budget includes a number of items that will further the efforts to beautify Estevan and make the city more accessible for pedestrians.
With regards to parks, the budget set aside money for Phase 4 of Trojan Park and for lights and flower planting in the Kensington Greens Park. The delayed Torgeson Park development project is also included in the budget.
Pathways will also continue to be a focus with $250,000 earmarked for pathway development in the storm pond area of Kensington Greens and $100,000 for what was described as the core rectangle pathways.
Other budget highlights include:
$300,000 has been allocated for the expansion of City Hall.
$1 million for a new biosolids building
$1.23 million for storm sewer installation on Duncan Road. This project was carried over from 2011.
$1.28 million for a new "T-Rex" fire truck for the Estevan Fire Rescue Service. (See separate story)
$50,000 for a cold storage building for Spectra Place.
Although Estevan residents will likely avoid a tax increase, the cost of their water bills will be rising by 10 per cent in 2012.
The City's solid waste utility is projected to post a surplus of $202,982 in 2012 while the water and waste water utility is forecasting a deficit of $337,192.
