Common Council giving its official stamp of approval to the $20.5-million General Capital Budget for this year but not everyone is on board.
The budget passing 7-1 with councillor Bill Farren voting against saying he isn’t happy at all with the $700,000 being allocated towards the City Market when over $5-million is needed to fix it up.
Deputy Mayor Shelley Rinehart says over the years they’ve let the market, the Aquatic Centre and a number of other assets deteriorate to the point that there’s a risk of losing them. She says they’re coming to a point where they’re going to have to make some hard decisions about whether they keep them or they don’t.
Mayor Mel Norton, meantime, tells us he believes the budget strikes a good balance between taking care of what we already have and items that are more aspirational.
Included in the budget is $4.1-million going towards roads, $4.5-million towards drainage and $780,000 to resurface the existing Harbour Passage trail.
City Manager Pat Woods says $11.7-million of the budget would be funded directly from city debt in future years while $8.8-million would be coming from other sources.
