St. Stephen council is hoping to repair some roads and streets and make much-needed repairs to its lift station in the 2025 budget.
Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Renaud presented the draft capital budget and utility budget on Wednesday for the council to consider. All proposals are draft and are not approved until the council debates the budget and approves it through a vote of the council.
Fifteen municipal roads are on the list for rehabilitation or construction, totalling about $1 million. These streets were part of a study done by Dillon Consulting – which showed the town was facing a $17 million backlog of road construction projects.
Renaud said the roads chosen for this year are based on PCI, which is a scientific-based system for determining the conditions of roads.
“There is a scientific rationale behind why we chose the ones we did,” Renaud told council on Wednesday evening.
The PCI score is set by observing the distress in the road, such as cracking, scaling, rutting, and spalling. It rates from zero, the worst on the scale, to 100, which is the best.
Both Belliveau Avenue and McIntee Lane received a 10 on the PCI scale, with the highest being Thompson Avenue from Garden Street to Prince William, which received a PCI of 69.
Other major projects
Renaud said three of those projects will be funded through long-term debt while another will be funded through general capital reserves.
The municipality will also consider replacing several fleet vehicles and a backhoe.
Renaud said there are five capital projects on the list for city facilities and parks next year, but staff are only recommending four of them.
The tennis court rehabilitation, the airport building, the Milltown pool liner replacement, security camera upgrades, and Rotary Park upgrades. However, Renaud said the airport building is not something staff are recommending the council invest in at the moment.
It did spark a bit of a discussion among council, including Coun. Joyce Wright, who called the airport an underutilized gem.
“It seems like a gem that we’re not fully using,” she said to the council. “Start small and start investing.”
The airport, as staff see it, is a regional opportunity and is hoping to secure funding from other levels of government to bring the facility up to standard for those who do use it, including for customs clearance.
The total cost of the facilities and parks projects is $425,000.
Lift station repairs needed
Renaud also included a line item for $1.2 million for the King Street lift station, which has been an ongoing issue for the municipality for about 10 years.
A lift station is like a pump that moves wastewater up from low-lying areas to keep the flow moving.
Sean Morton, the deputy chief administrative officer and the fire chief, said there has been a significant amount of work done to ensure the lift station operates properly and doesn’t “spill its contents” out into the streets.
The replacement, they said, is necessary to ensure the longevity of the lift station. The money is set to come from the Canada Community-Building Fund, formerly known as the federal gas tax fund.
In total, the capital budget is slated to be around $3 million – with about $900,000 being carried over from a surplus last year.
Water and sewer rates
Renaud said under the proposed water and sewage fund budget, the rates are expected to stay the same.
However, he put the council on notice about work being done on a new rate structure. Renaud said the current structure is impeding development.
“We generate enough revenue to operate the system, but it does create barriers for the economic development that we need,” he said to the council.
While the council agreed to have that budget presented at its next regular council meeting, all items are considered draft until approved by a vote later this month.
