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Street sweeper moved back into 2020 budget
City of Cranbrook council May 11 voted to amend a resolution surrounding the city’s list of essential projects requiring 2020 budget funding, to allow for the purchase of a new street sweeper.
A decision was made at the April 27 council meeting to move the proposed purchase of the street sweeper from the essential list of projects for 2020 and to defer the project to 2021.
Upon further examination, it was noted that repairs to the current street sweeper (pictured above) in 2020 is approximately $12,000 to date to get it back up and running, added to the already high weekly cost of maintenance of this vehicle, council learned last Monday.
Coupled with the high repair cost is the delivery of a new sweeper can take anywhere from six months to a year. This delay would affect Public Works’ ability for the cleaning of the winter sand in the spring of 2021 in preparation of the road line painting.
Moving the project back onto the essential project listing, and proceeding with the purchase in 2020, is unlikely to represent a significant risk to the city’s ability to meet its financial obligations, a joint city Finance and Public Works report to council noted.
The sweeper, with a projected cost of $350,000, is budgeted from the city’s ‘Recap Reserve.’ The balance in the reserve at December 31, is estimated to be $2,315,556 assuming all the essential projects planned for 2020 are completed and the budgeted transfer to the reserve of $1,110,000 is made, the city report continued.
The large essential projects funded from the Recap Reserve in 2020 are: Western Financial Place (WFP) Roof Replacement – $1,367,586; WFP and Kinsmen boards – $515,000; WFP Chiller – $343,000; street sweeper – $350,000 (if council places this project back on the essential list).
“Reallocating the sweeper, leaves the deferred projects total at $4,389,624. This amount represents a strong aspect of the fortifications that have been put in place to guard against the financial uncertainties brought on by COVID-19,” the city report concluded.
e-KNOW file photo
e-KNOW
