City short on critical funds

Money needed for upgrades to water pipes, says mayor

The City of Port Alberni does not have enough money for critical infrastructure upgrades, says the mayor.

The city’s auditor Don Jones presented the 2014 financial statements to council last week. Total revenue was $34.2 million, with total expenses of $32.6 million.

While a decrease in expenses was budgeted, actual costs increased by over $1 million. Revenue decreased by about $1.6 million, mostly because of a drop in infrastructure funding from the federal and provincial governments.

Major infrastructure needs and a shortage of funds makes it difficult to undertake all the necessary improvements in the city, said Mayor Mike Ruttan.

“It’s always a concern when we’re not in a financial position to devote as much money towards our critical infrastructure as we’d like to,” said Ruttan. “Like every other city in North America, our infrastructure is aging and we’re at that point where we need some serious investment in order to bring it up to current standards.

“This year in the 2015 budget we’ve got a million and a half dollars devoted particularly towards pipes – water pipes and so on,” Ruttan noted. “We could use many times that. It’s a matter of how much staff, how much capacity, so on and so forth. But the need is there.”

Three major infrastructure projects are currently underway. A $2.7 million flood abatement initiative for Dry Creek is being funded with a $1.8 million government grant from the Building Canada Fund. The city borrowed $900,000 to cover the rest.

A $2 million loan from the Municipal Finance Authority was converted to long-term debt this year to pay for improvements to the Bainbridge Water Treatment Plant.

Port Alberni purchased the sewage lagoon from Catalyst Paper in 2012 with the help of an $11 million federal grant, said Ruttan.

Salaries, wages and benefits paid out were the city’s biggest expense last year, increasing by about $800,000 over 2013.

Since 2010, the city’s salary expenses have bumped up 21 per cent, from $12.4 million to

over $15 million in 2014.

Most of the salary increase in the past year was due to a wage bump for the Port Alberni Fire Department, which went up by $500,000 over 2013.

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