City of Belleville staff is proposing an approximate 20 per cent increase in the capital budget for 2024.
Director of Finance Brandon Ferguson told council that staff will propose a $70.5 millioncapital budget for next year.
That’s up from $58.5 million this year.
Ferguson said council directed staff to try and get caught up on at least some of the infrastructure needing to be done.
“We focused on core infrastructure. This was in line with the feedback we received from the community as well on our capital budget as well as they focused on increasing the capital budget expenditures for the year and the purpose of this is to narrow our infrastructure gap.”
The average annual infrastructure gap (amount of money city should be spending on infrastructure upgrades versus actual spending) for Belleville is $29.5 million. The city is estimated to have $2.3 billion worth of infrastructure.
By far the largest capital project in next year’s proposed budget is the new and larger Avonlough Road pumping station that will include a large sewer main running along Bridge Street West at a cost of $55 million.
As part of that effort there will be a widening of the intersection of Sidney and Bridge streets and a watermain project from Highland Avenue to the Bridge Street Bridge.
Not all of the work will be complete in 2024. At full build-out, the Avonlough Road pumping station would be able to service 9,000 new residential units in Belleville’s west end.
Almost $4 million is proposed for 17 road resurfacing projects while $4.6 million has been earmarked for water/sewer projects.
Two plow trucks would be replaced along with an urban rescue truck for the fire department.
About 44 per cent of the $70 million budget would be paid for through long-term debt (mostly paid from development charges), 27 per cent from various reserve funds and 17 per cent would come from grants with other spending paid by user fees.
The capital budget will not have any affect on tax rates. Ferguson called the proposed capital plan manageable, both operationally and financially.
Council will decide on its 2024 capital budget at a special meeting December 6 which starts at 1 p.m.
