OLDS — The Town of Olds' operating budget has been hiked upward by $330,301 as a result of a special town council meeting held Oct. 23.
The increase brings the total 2023 operating budget to $33,457,961.
However, don’t panic. The money is coming out of existing town reserves.
The extra money covers costs for public WiFi throughout town and manhole relining, undertaken in an effort to stem water loss in the sewer system.
A request for decision in council’s agenda package said the WiFi bill totals $303,750.
In an email, chief administrative officer Brent Williams told the Albertan that O-NET WiFi gets lots of use, and that costs money.
“These are high use sites, accounting for most of O-NET’s overall bandwidth requirement,” he wrote, adding that there are also ongoing costs for hardware maintenance.
In council’s agenda package, hotspots at Centennial Park, the Olds Aquatic Centre, the Sportsplex, other public spaces and several private businesses were cited as examples.
That bill will be covered by taking $245,546 out of the town’s ATCO franchise fee reserve. The remaining money will come from the town’s general operating reserve.
Finance director Sheena Linderman told council that that figure will cover the period from October 2021 to Dec. 31, this year.
She said going forward, that cost is expected to be about $135,000 a year.
“Although valuable, council will review the efficacy of this cost going forward,” a memo in the agenda package said.
The second increase approved for the operating budget was to increase the town’s wastewater repairs and maintenance budget by $197,000 to cover manhole relining costs of $87,000 and vapour testing costs of $75,000.
Last month, vapour testing was undertaken to find out where water was escaping, and some issues were identified.
Those projects were approved previously and have been completed.
Another $35,000 is for additional manhole relining that was undertaken as a result of the vapour testing.
Capital budget shrinks
Overall, the town’s capital budget is down almost $26,968, even though some new projects were added and costs for another were increased.
Town council approved the changes during its Oct. 23 meeting.
The changes bring the new total for the capital budget to $8,279,103.
One big change is that the town’s capital water loss/inflow and infiltration prevention program – manhole lining and vapour testing – has been moved to the operating budget.
That move cut the capital budget by $163,000.
Finance director Linderman called for that move because she said they’re really ongoing repair and maintenance costs, not capital costs.
Council also approved several increases to the capital budget.
One was an extra $16,882 for the Kiwanis playground project.
"As work began on this project this summer, significant drainage repairs were required to the site in order to proceed,” a memo in council’s agenda package said.
Other increases included $119,150 for new projects, including a $60,000 land purchase, completion of a $45,000 sand/salt shed, and a chain link fence installed around the pumphouse for $14,150.
