Planning for future Town of Sundre capital project budget deliberations is underway, with one session held on Oct. 14 and a second session expected to be held yesterday evening.
During the Oct. 14 meeting, administration officials proposed a number of capital projects to council, and councillors were asked to provide direction for each project.
Council voted to include or not to include each project presented in the upcoming budget deliberations for 2015.
One of the projects council voted to include was a broadband network for $4,305,232, which would be budgeted for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
This would install fibre optic cable to every household and business in Sundre, and officials plan to partner with O-NET to build and maintain the project.
O-NET is a company owned by the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development that provides television, high speed Internet and phone services for the community of Olds.
Other projects council voted to include in budget deliberations included a new washhouse for Greenwood Campground for $13,000 and installing new signs for the trail system for $20,000.
Administration officials also proposed spending $65,000 in 2015 to implement Questica Public Sector Budgeting software.
Wanda Watson-Neufeld, the town's director of corporate services, said this would assist staff members immensely and save a lot of time.
“As our budgeting process evolves and becomes more complex, the spreadsheet method of preparing the budget is no longer efficient and has become extremely time consuming,” she reported to council.
“It requires large amounts of manual input and linking of spreadsheets, which can make tracking changes difficult and increases the chance of clerical input errors.”
Officials also discussed spending $35,000 in 2015 on way-finding signage, as well as $25,000 in 2016. However, councillors requested that only $15,000 be spent on this particular project in 2015 and in 2016.
Town administration also proposed spending $10,000 in 2015 on a facility booking program, which they said would improve efficiencies for the public and the town. Council voted not to include this project in budget deliberations.
Council also voted not to include spending $55,000 on redirecting drainage on the south face of Snake Hill to mitigate slumping and erosion.
After budget deliberations occur, town officials are planning to present the capital budget to council for approval in December.
