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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 06, 2015 - Special Council THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF BAYHAM CAPITAL BUDGET MEETING MINUTES MUNICIPAL OFFICE 9344 Plank Road, Straffordville, ON Council Chambers Tuesday, October 6, 2015 6:30 p.m. The initial 2016 - 2025 Capital Budget meeting of the Council of the Municipality of Bayham was held on Tuesday, October 6, 2014 in the Council Chambers. Present were Mayor Paul Ens, Deputy Mayor Tom Southwick, Councillors Wayne Casier, Randy Breyer and Ed Ketchabaw, CAO Paul Shipway, Clerk Lynda Millard and Treasurer Lorne James. 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Ens called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. DECLARATION OF PECUNIARY INTEREST AND THE GENERAL NATURE THEREOF No disclosures of pecuniary interest were declared. 3. 2016 - 2025 CAPITAL DRAFT BUDGET (a) Report TR-17/15 by Lorne James, Treasurer re 2016-2025 Capital Budget - Draft (b) 2016 - 2025 Draft Capital Budget The Treasurer provided an overview of the 2016-2025 Capital Budget, funding mechanisms and infrastructure deficit. The CAO advised that the Municipality of Bayham has not historically funded its asset portfolio in a sustainable manner. This is evidenced within the 2013 Public Sector Digest Infrastructure Study, 2014 Roads Need Study, 2014 Facility Audits and 2015 Storm Sewer Network Assessment, including the fact that some of those asset categories have not received any funding or planning for funding in a number of years. As the Treasurer noted the capital budget focuses on protecting assets in fair to good condition by extending their useful lives as far as possible while assets that are in poor condition will be exhausted until replacement is an absolute necessity and funding permits the same. This process is conducted within the financial parameters in which Page 1 of 4 Budget Meeting Minutes October 06, 2015 Council has indicated they would prefer to operate and staff would agree that placing a levy demand beyond a 10% increase on the Municipality is not sustainable and may create significant hardship on many residents, and businesses. The easy answer would be to place the blame for lack of funding on the Project Ojibwa Guarantorship Loan, which is a component of the issues, however the lack of funding occurred prior to default and the capital deficit is significantly greater than the annual loan default payments. If a sustainable solution to the capital deficit is to be found the fact must be acknowledged that if Council directed Staff to bring forward a needs based budget, with a fully funded Capital Budget, the levy increase would be exponentially greater than the budget presented. Staff in no way support or recommend a needs based budget with a levy impact of that amount and it is a common theme for small municipalities in Ontario to have an infrastructure deficit, however Bayham's is increasing at a non-sustainable rate as assets deteriorate. To begin to rectify the issue and chart a course that will take a number of years to achieve, towards sustainable capital assets Council will need to set direction on one of the three following key strategies: 1) Pass budgets with increased capital funding. 2) Decrease the amount of infrastructure assets within the Municipal portfolio. 3) Accept deteriorated infrastructure and causal effects. Although variations of the above strategies will achieve various levels of success, staff have identified the three aforementioned strategies as the main options to move forward. This information, pertaining to capital funding deficits and non-sustainable infrastructure funding is presented so all parties are fully informed as to the state of the municipal asset portfolio, but more importantly so a sustainable direction and funding can be developed. Staff look forward to Council direction on the same and working diligently to ensure sustainable infrastructure into the future. Moved by: Councillor Ketchabaw Seconded by: Deputy Mayor Southwick THAT staff be directed to remove the 2016 Working Capital Reserve Transfer in the amount of$10,000 from the 2016 General Government Budget; AND THAT staff be directed to remove Capital Item FD-2 Ventilation Equipment in the amount of$10,000 from the 2016 Fire Department Budget; AND THAT staff be directed to reduce Capital Item FD-3 Extrication Hydraulics by $10,000 to a total of$50,000 in the 2016 Fire Department Budget; Page 2 of 4 Budget Meeting Minutes October 06, 2015 AND THAT staff be directed to defer Capital Item PW-1 Carson Bridge in the Public Works Budget to 2017 and the following transfers of OCIF Funding and GasTax be made to accomplish the same: i. transfer$90,000 OCIF from PW-1 Carson Bridge to PW-4 Stafford Rd ii. transfer$40,000 Gas Tax from PW-4 Stafford Rd to Road Construction Reserve iii. transfer $50,000 Gas Tax from PW-4 Stafford Rd to PW-8 Sidewalks CARRIED Moved by: Councillor Casier Seconded by: Councillor Breyer THAT staff be directed to add PW-132 Storm Sewer Environmental Assessment to the 2016 Public Works Budget in the amount of$50,000 to be funded from the Road Construction Reserve. CARRIED Moved by: Deputy Mayor Southwick Seconded by: Councillor Ketchabaw THAT staff be directed to defer Capital Item PR-6 Accessible viewing platform to 2017. CARRIED Moved by: Councillor Ketchabaw Seconded by: Councillor Breyer THAT staff be directed to bring back a report on municipal owned property with potential for surplus for Council consideration. CARRIED Moved by: Councillor Casier Seconded by: Councillor Ketchabaw THAT the 2016-2025 Capital Budget as amended be approved in principle. CARRIED Page 3 of 4 Budget Meeting Minutes October 06, 2015 4. BY-LAW (a) By-law 2015-108 Being a By-law to confirm all actions of Council Moved by: Councillor Casier Seconded by: Deputy Mayor Southwick THAT confirming By-law 2015-108 be read a first, second and third time and finally passed. CARRIED 5. ADJOURNMENT (a) Adjournment Moved by: Deputy Mayor Southwick Seconded by: Councillor Ketchabaw THAT the Council meeting be adjourned at 8:40 p.m. CARRIED M YOR CLERK Page 4 of 4