Barrie - City Capital Budget Balancing - City plan totals $135.6 million

This year’s Barrie capital budget attempts to balance need and cost as they relate to city services and property.

It totals $135.6 million, but that might not be enough to deal with the required road projects, water and sewer works, facility maintenance and construction.

“The recommended capital budget is designed to address the most critical needs of the city, but also has to consider affordability thresholds,” said Blaine Parkin, Barrie’s director of corporate asset management.

“Having said that, the city is not spending enough to address the ongoing deterioration of the city’s assets.”

He notes the 2011 corporate asset status report states an annual investment of $86 million is required just to replace Barrie’s assets — streets, recreation centres, plants and other infrastructures — at the end of their life-cycles.

“We are currently investing approximately one-third of that amount,” Parkin said.

“This equates to more assets failing more often, causing service interruptions.”

Barrie councillors will begin formally debating a 2013 operating budget/capital plan next Monday, Jan. 21; it includes a projected 4.1% hike in property taxes.

This would add $148 to a typical home assessed at $277,000.

Its 2012 property taxes were $3,625.

With that tax increase (blended – municipal/education), the 2013 tax total would be $3,773 for that property.

Parkin says the city’s approach to capital planning is risk-based.

“That means our goal is to balance the level of exposure to the risk of asset failure with level of investment,” he said.

“Considering that services and service levels drive costs, both the level of risk and the level of investment have a direct impact on the city’s ability to sustain the services it currently provides to its residents and businesses.

“With the level of investment being lower than required, the city is exposed to a greater risk of asset failure and lower than desired service levels.”

That doesn’t mean there isn’t considerable capital spending planned for 2013 — although $86.1 million of it is previously approved funding — mostly from last year.

Parkin says the majority of the carryover spending can be attributed to several large projects.

He listed the Highway 400/DuckworthStreet/Cundles Road work ($27 million), Sunnidale Park reservoir ($7 million), the new transit garage ($9.1 million), the Allandale Waterfront GO Station ($3.9 million), sewer treatment facility inlet screen work ($2.6 million) and Sandy Hollow landfill re-engineering ($1.5 million).

“The Highway 400/Duckworth/Cundles project has been delayed due to ongoing funding negotiations with the provincial and federal government,” Parkin said. “Further to funding announcements last fall, the cost-sharing agreement is currently being processed, and the project is expected to be tendered in early 2013.”

The remaining carryover amounts are primarily attributable to delays in the schedule due to unknowns arising during construction, completing restoration work (sod, asphalt) later because of weather and invoicing delays by outside parties (consultants, utility companies). The end of maintenance periods also require staff inspections.

Barrie’s capital plan has a two-fold focus.

First is routine work needed to sustain existing services and service levels, required to prevent further deterioration of Barrie’s infrastructure.

Allandale Recreation Centre is having its ceiling, roof and flooring replaced, for example, its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system fixed, along with the ice-making system, seating and boards on the Blue rink.

Barrie Molson Centre’s gas fired heaters and fan are being replaced, while Barrie City Hall’s HVAC system will continue to be updated.

The tennis courts at Queen’s Park, which buckled from last winter’s freeze-and-thaw conditions, will be fixed.

The capital plan’s second focus is work to fix deficiencies in current services and service levels, ones that need to be expanded and/or improved to meet city growth.

One example is Barrie’s new transit plan, which begins in August. There’s $9.1 million in the capital budget to construct the new transit garage on Welham Road. The total cost is $23.5-million.

This city’s bus system has stayed essentially the same since the 1970s, a radial system where all routes go to and from the downtown.

The new system will serve multiple transit hubs, at major destinations, in different parts of Barrie. Routes will double up on major roads, so there will be 15-minute service on many of the city’s busiest streets, instead of the 30-minute service today.

The hubs will be at Georgian Mall, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, Georgian College, the current downtown transit terminal site, Allandale Waterfront GO Station, Holly Community Centre, Park Place and South Barrie GO Station.

Barrie Transit’s existing 21 routes will be replaced with 10 more efficient routes.

The city’s fire department is also getting a new aerial platform truck, replacing an existing 75-foot one with a 100-foot model; this will improve firefighters’ ability to respond to high-rise fires and other emergencies. The cost is $1.2 million over two years.

Barrie faces a multitude of infrastructure challenges, and the capital budget is one way they are being addressed.

Building new roads, adding parks and libraries, services for new residential, commercial, industrial and institutional development are some of them. Maintaining current roads, sanitary and storm sewers, water supply and treatment plants are others.

Examples in this year’s capital budget include work needed to relocate Lakeshore Drive to the old CN Rail line, which will eventually create another 10 acres of parkland by the waterfront. There are property requirements and utilities needed with the Ferndale Drive/Essa Road widening, a transmission watermain associated with a Tiffin Street well and continuing Sunnidale Park’s new reservoir project.

By the numbers
Barrie’s 2013 capital plan includes $7 million to complete multi-year projects started last year. They include:
• Ross Street construction, Wellington to Toronto streets – $125,000 for surface asphalt
• Sunnidale Park reservoir –  $1 mil. for ongoing construction
• new transit garage – $150,000 for design
• enterprise resource planning (ERP) – $2.23 million
• Georgian Theatre, upgrades/renovation – $102,600 (part of agreement with college)
• North Shore Trail restoration – $580,000 to complete construction
• Barrie City Hall HVAC – $265,000
• wastewater treatment facility inlet works and screens –  $2.5 mil.
• wastewater treatment facility return activated sludge piping – $50,000 for the ongoing construction