403-752-3322 contact@raymond.ca

Executive Summary

In 2018, the Town submitted a grant application to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) to pay for the needed expansion to our wastewater treatment lagoons. The project is estimated to cost $8 million dollars and the Town will pay $2,133,334 or 26%. In December 2019, the Province recommended our project to the Federal Government for approval and we anticipate learning in June 2020, if our project has been funded.

If our project receives federal support, the Town will have reduced our contribution to this project from $3,816,790 to $2,133,334 or by over 44% (See Detailed Timeline below). If this occurs, the Town will advertise its intent to debenture the $2,133,334 and will repay the loan with the $300,000/year utility reserves we began collecting in 2019. This will mean that no additional taxes will need to be raised to fund this expansion.

The Town has sufficient room in our debt limit to undertake this project and will not require an increase in taxation to repay the debt.

If you have any further questions regarding this project, please contact the Towns Chief Administrative Officer, Kurtis Pratt at your convenience.  

 

Detailed Timeline

Our wastewater treatment system comprises a series of 7 collection ponds northeast of Town, where wastewater is collected and treated through a series of physical, biological and chemical processes, much of which is naturally occurring. The system was designed for a population of 4,000 residents and the Town had just reached that milestone in 2014. Through a series of initiatives, the Town had reduced its per capita water consumption by over 73% of our maximum consumption record, which was achieved in 1988. This has allowed us to delay the expansion until we were eligible to offset the project with additional provincial and federal grant dollars.

In 2014, the Town submitted a grant application to the Alberta Water/Wastewater Partnership grant program to conduct an expansion study for our wastewater treatment system. Associated Engineering was selected to study and estimate the cost for the needed expansion. The cost of this study will be eligible for repayment when the expansion occurs.

In 2015, the Town submitted another grant application for the actual expansion of our system. This was estimated to cost $5,558,000 and if approved, the Town would receive $2,751,210 in grant money and be responsible to fund the remaining $2,806.790.

In 2018, the Town carried out another study (approved by the AMWWP) to analyze our wastewater lift station and what improvements would need to be completed in order to accommodate future capacity. These costs were added to the 2014 application for consideration. This added an additional $2 million dollars to the total project cost. The cost of this study will also be eligible for repayment with the expansion.

Additionally, in 2018, the Town re-submitted this application to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) with the hopes of reducing the Town’s capital contribution from $3,861,790 to a lower number.

In 2019, the Town introduced a utility reserve fee, which raises approximately $300,000 annually. This money is to be set aside to fund future expansion or replacement of the Town’s municipal utility infrastructure and to either avoid the need for future debt/interest payments or if required to pay for the annual debt and interest payments without the need to raises taxes. This will allow the Town to use our existing capital grant programs from other Council priorities, such as roads and sidewalk maintenance and replacements projects, walking trail expansions and playground redevelopment projects, etc.

In December 2019, the Town received word that the Province had recommended our application to the Federal Government for approval and if approved, the Town would have its funding contribution reduced from $3,741,210 to $2,133,334, with the Federal Government contributing $3,200,000 and the Province contributing $2,666,666. We expect to hear if our application has received Federal approval in June 2020 and if approved, the Town will advertise its intent to borrow $2,133,334 or 26% of the total project costs and to repay it with the money collected from our utility reserve fees.