Belleville council has set its capital budget for next year.
It will be a record high total for the city at close to $87 million, but the capital spending will have no effect on tax increases residents and businesses end up paying when the final operating budget is arrived at.
The budget will be paid for through taxes, borrowing, development charges, senior government grants, and gas taxes.
The largest project in the capital budget is over $30 million for the relocation of the Belleville Agricultural Society from the west end fairgrounds to a new property near Black Diamond Road and Highway 401.
The money will be used to extend water/sewer to the new property and to upgrade roads. Also money will be available for new buildings.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk says the investments will be a huge plus for the Belleville Agricultural Society and the community as a whole.
“It allows them to now plan for new buildings and not just buildings for what they’ve done in the past, also a new state of the art equine centre, first of its kind in Ontario and potentially a conference centre that they’ve now applied for funding for.”
When all is said and done the Agricultural Society will be able to hold major agricultural competitions at the site.
The city will borrow to pay the costs and expects to pay it back through the sale of properties, future development charges and taxes coming from new developments on both the old fairgrounds and near the new site.
Meanwhile, under new business at the end of Monday’s capital budget discussions, Councillor Paul Carr rose and asked for support to add over $10 million for major upgrades to Farnham Road, from the traffic circle up to Wim’s Way.
Carr says new subdivisions have sprung up in the area for years and continue to do so and that Farnham Road has become dangerous.
” … so there’s a lot of residents and they use that road every day, to go to school, to work, to go anywhere in the city and it’s a rural road and not up to urban standards.”
See the detailed list of capital projects (minus the Farnham Road project) here.
