MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - County council has reviewed budget project sheets outlining proposed projects for 2020. The sheets were presented to councillors at the recent regularly scheduled meeting.
Projects proposed included Bergen Road construction ($7,950,000), capital bridge program ($4,263,630), 2020 equipment replacement ($4,235,000), re-gravel program ($2,250,000), re-chipping program ($1,800,000), base stabilization ($600,000), asphalt long patching ($400,000), gravel pit stripping ($300,000), bridge maintenance ($265,000), bad debt funding ($175,000), and business services hardware and software ($116,200).
• The 2020 equipment replacement project sheet outlines replacement vehicles including graders, belly dump trailers, and new items such as a tilt trailer and cable bucket.
• The $2.25-million re-gravel program project sheet states, in part, that, “operational services has been directed to complete 650 kilometres county-wide of re-gravel per year.
• The $1.8-million re-chipping program project sheet states, in part, that, “operational services intends to re-chip its hard surfaced chip seal road inventory every seven years. In 2020, this will be 121.6 kilometres.”
• The $600,000 base stabilization project sheet states, in part, that, “This program takes existing chip seal roads that are no longer meeting service expectations due to surface conditions or base failure and revitalizes them. Our intentions based on current priorities will be Acme and Garrington Road (projects).
• The $400,000 asphalt long patching project sheet states, in part, that, “operational services hires a contractor to apply asphalt patches to the roads based on their condition. Each year the hard surfaces are inspected in the spring to evaluate the most critical locations for long patching.”
• The $300,000 gravel pit stripping project sheet states, in part, that, “prior to crushing gravel, the topsoil and subsoil needs to be stripped. This is done on an as-needed basis.”
• The $175,000 bad debt expense funding project sheet states, in part, that, “when administration deems property tax is uncollectable, funds from the reserve may be used to cover the funding shortfall that was created by the bad debt. This is the first time that a reserve is being used to cover this expense.”
• The $116,200 business services hardware and software project sheet states, in part, that the “intent of the project is to keep our office software and hardware current. There will be fluctuations in the yearly purchases based on life cycles of the products purchased and the changing demands of the organization and outside stakeholders.”
“Administration will respond to councillor questions with detailed explanations and clarifications when the budget is presented again at the Nov. 27 regular council meeting,” administration said in a briefing note to council.
The complete project sheets are available for viewing on the county’s website.
