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St. Mary’s Avenue reconstruction contract awarded
Kimberley City Council Report
By Nowell Berg
On April 14, City of Kimberley council held its regular bi-monthly meeting.
Councilors Sue Cairns, Kevin Dunnebacke, Diana Fox, Woody Maguire, Jason McBain and Sandra Roberts were present along with Mayor Don McCormick.
An archive of the meeting can be viewed on the City of Kimberley YouTube channel. Watch it here.
Five Year Financial Plan Highlights
Chief Financial Officer Krista White presented council with the 2025-2029 Five Year Financial Plan.
Highlighting a significant item that influenced the financial plan, White said, “Council’s decision to raise property taxes by 6.99% to fund operating expenditures for 2025.”
She also noted two transfers to reserve funds will contribute to infrastructure renewal.
The first reserve transfer for 2025 comes from the 1.5% dedicated property tax that will generate just over $169,000 in revenue and is targeted for infrastructure renewal.
The second transfer arises from the change in value of the non-market assessment, which is “the amount of new property tax collected that comes primarily from new construction.”
Last year, there was $59.3 million in new construction which “added $369,000 in new tax revenue.” These funds will also go toward infrastructure renewal.
White told council that $776,000 in forest fuels management will be “carried forward” from 2024 to 2025 because “environmental conditions” were not suitable to complete the work last year.
Pointing out another financial plan item that may get resident’s attention, White noted the “significant amounts” of capital expenditures in years one to four, and high debt payments in year four and five, are due to costs associated with the construction of the waste water treatment plant.
The last debt payment on the Aquatic Centre will be made in 2025. Because of that, White said the parcel tax should be “reduced by approximately $40 with the retirement of that debt.”
Mayor McCormick added, “There’s $187,000 to pay.” He concluded saying, “Since COVID, the [Aquatic Centre] use has gone up significantly.”
The 20th anniversary of the aquatic centre is this year.
RecycleBC Curbside Recycling Renewal
With the current agreement between the city and RecycleBC set to expire on May 1, Ryan Reynolds, Manager of Roads, presented to council a request for renewing the contract.
Reynolds said the program, since its 2021 implementation, “has received very high participation numbers and positive community feedback.”
The contract renewal with RecycleBC introduces “key improvements overall.”
First, an increase in incentives from “37.40 to $41 per household per year.” Second, the “contamination threshold increases from three per cent to five per cent. This means there is “more flexibility” with material not deemed appropriate for curbside recycling and its impact on the incentive and costs. Third, the possible future inclusion of “flexible plastics.”
Finally, “They [RecycleBC] have cut down on the administrative burden” by streamlining reporting requirements.
GFL Environmental Inc. currently holds the contract to make curbside pick-ups throughout the city. Their contract expires August 30, 2026. At that time, any new vendor agreement may “impact vendor rates and incentives.”
Coun. McBain said, “People are participating and it is making an impact on the footprint, on the garbage that’s thrown in the landfill. It’s a wonderful program and I am more than happy to see it continue.”
Coun. Dunnebacke asked if the city had thought about getting its own truck instead of relying on a contractor.
Nik Morissette, Senior Manager of Operations said, “That will be something we are evaluating as the contract expires.” He added the city would, at that time, be looking at what makes sense “financially and operationally over-all.”
The city already has two trucks used for garbage and organics collections. Given that, Morissette said, “It wouldn’t be a huge jump” to add recycling, but it would come with capital expenses and other considerations.
St. Mary’s Avenue Reconstruction
After closed meeting deliberations, council awarded the road construction tender to MacKay Contracting Ltd. The cost of the St. Mary’s Avenue reconstruction is $1.433 million which leaves an additional $580,746 from the original $2 million budgeted amount.
About $40,000 of the $580,000 will go toward “engineering costs” which is being added to the existing budgeted engineering cost of $97,495.
The remaining $540,761 will be allocated to “unexpected costs” that may arise during the re-construction of the avenue.
Kimberley city council assembles twice monthly starting at 7 p.m.
The next regular council meeting: April 28.
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