City Proposes $43M In Capital Projects Next Year

The City of Saint John plans to invest more than $43 million in capital projects next year.

Finance committee members got their first look at the draft 2022 capital budgets this week.

$29.3 million is being proposed for general fund projects and $14.2 million for utility fund projects.

Coun. Gary Sullivan, who chairs the committee, pointed out that the city plans to borrow just over $8.3 million for the projects.

“A few things go with that. One is our financial plan and the fact we’re following our financial plan,” Sullivan said during Tuesday’s meeting.

“The other, and incredibly important, is other work that has gone on with the city, both with our elected officials and our staff, in work with our partners.”

Budget documents show the city plans to leverage more than $20 million from other levels of government toward the projects.

Craig Lavigne, the city’s senior finance manager, said there are a few reasons why this is important.

“By having this leveraged funding, we’re able to focus more on reducing our infrastructure deficit, climate change investments, as well as focusing on our quality of life assets,” said Lavigne.

A recent report by RV Anderson indicated that the city has infrastructure deficits of around $100 million in the general fund and $300 million in Saint John Water.

Most of the proposed general fund budget — around 87 per cent — focuses on renewing existing assets while the utility fund budget focuses “solely” on asset renewal.

Nearly $13 million has been earmarked for transportation and storm sewer renewal projects. The city hopes to completely reconstruct about 4.8 lane kilometres of streets and rehabilitate four to five kilometres of sidewalks.

There is also $6.3 million proposed for “quality of life” projects that were previously endorsed by the finance and growth committees.

The projects include creating a protected bike lane on Main Street North, extending Harbour Passage, renewing Loyalist Plaza, implementing phase three of the Rockwood Park master plan, and upgrading several parks, playgrounds and fields.

Staff are also proposing $1.6 million to buy carts and recycling totes for the city’s new solid waste collection model, as well as nearly $1.5 million to upgrade the 911 dispatch system and update and replace the records management systems for fire and police.

An additional $650,000 has also been set aside to install systems on Saint John Transit buses that would provide for real-time vehicle locations, automatic passenger counting, and audible/visual next-stop announcements.

The project, approved by council in August, would allow the city to gather better information to make decisions on routes and ridership.

Chief financial officer Kevin Fudge said this would be the final year that committee members would see a single-year view of the capital plan.

“Once council has approved council priorities and a 10-year strategic plan, work will begin on creating a rolling five-year capital plan, along with the annual capital budget,” said Fudge.

Committee members will get one final look at the budgets during their next meeting before making a recommendation to Common Council for approval.