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Lagoon release to cost over $1-million more than planned

The regular meeting of council took place on Oct. 23.
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Photo by Megan Roth/Sylvan Lake News

The newly-elected Town Council got down to work right way, with the Oct. 23 regular meeting of council.

Much of the discussions during the meeting were related to budgeting or funding.

Lagoon Release

Due to an increase length of time and the increased cost of the contractors, the budget for the lagoon release was more than originally planned for.

Council initially approved $700,000 for the emergency project. According to a report from Public Works to Council Monday night, the project will actually cost $1,710,000.

The money for the extra $1,010,000 will be reallocated from the utilities reserve, which at the time of the meeting had $1,850,000.

Council approved the reallocation of the funds to the project, which leaves the utilities reserve sitting just under $1-million.

Franchise Fee

Council approved the franchise fee for both ATCO Gas and Fortis Electrical.

The franchise fees, which are payments made by the utility companies to the Town to “obtain an exclusive franchise to provide utility distribution services within a municipal area,” will remain unchanged for 2018.

The ATCO franchise fee will remain at 23 per cent, which will bring in a revenue of $868,611 for the Town.

The Fortis Electrical franchise fee will remain at 12 percent for 2018. The 12 per cent fee is expected to bring in a revenue of $943,000 for the Town.

Parkland Regional Library

Council approved the Parkland Regional Library’s budget request for $8.12 per capita. This is a one per cent increase from the 217 budget, which was $8.04 per capita.

Based on the population, currently totalling 14,310 people, the budget for the regional library is $120,306.

While Council approved the budget, they also made the motion to have the Sylvan Lake Library present their budget at the same time, as they would like to take them into consideration at the same time.

Winter Village

A delegation from the Waterfront Commercial District (WCD) Revitalization Committee, and Vicki Kurz, economic development officer with the Town, asked Council for their help to set up a winter village.

The winter village will be a light display, and activity location, set up on the pier throughout the winter months. The WCD would like to have the winter village begin in time with the Light up the Lake celebrations at the beginning of December this year.

The committee asked Council to approve $27,000 seed money be given to the group for the project. The money will be used for the purchase of the lights, operating costs and maintenance.

As a whole, Council though this was a great idea, and were happy to see the project brought to them.

Council approved the funding of the light display for $27,000, which was reallocated from the Facade Improvement Program.



megan.roth@sylvanlakenews.com

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