The City of North Battleford is reallocating surplus funds from projects like the 100th St. project. (File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Funds approved

Project surplus, new Hydrovac truck in North Battleford

Mar 16, 2022 | 5:00 PM

The City of North Battleford is using left over funds to help fund pool light upgrades.

Council voted to reallocate the $48,233.69 left over from two completed street developments, the Carlton Trail Roadway project and the 100^th St. Service project. Finance Director Brent Nadon said administration recommended the reallocation because the funding was granted through MEEP funding, which they could potentially send back it isn’t used for another approved project.

“We haven’t claimed it yet, it’s sitting in deferred revenue, but we wouldn’t be able to use it,” he said. “So, we would like to take advantage of the full grant given by the government.”

The small surplus will go to the LED Lighting Upgrade-Competitive Pool project, which was budgeted at $48,944.83.

Council also approved the Curling Rink Boiler Replacement project for $50,000. This was originally discussed as an unbudgeted item and was inadvertently not included in the actual budget approved in December.

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Nadon said that while this increases the City’s Capital spending, it will not affect taxes.

“This was intended to be covered by reserves as it came forward at the last minute,” he said.

Flushing upgrade

Per the Capital budget, the City is moving forward with the purchase for a Hydrovac/Flushing Combo truck. This will replace a 2011 model with roughly 50,000 kilometres and 3,000 hours and will conduct critical maintenance and replace on the water distribution system throughout the City.

The truck will cost $700,977.34, plus five-year warranties on parts for $12,296 and $15,090.16, for a total $728,363.50. Because the project was budgeted at $750,000, this leaves a contingency of more than $21,000.

Fleet & Maintenance Manager Seton Winterhalt said staff chose Fer-Marc from Regina out of three available quotes. This tender was a slightly more expensive model, but came with better warranty options, a higher quality pump and a high quality on-board computer system to report and monitor vacuuming and flushing operations.

“There was some significant safety features on the Fer-Marc machine that weren’t on the Superior machine that we identified as well,” Winterhalt said.

There was some discussion amongst council about the possibility of keeping the old machine around as a backup, rather than use outside contractors in an emergency, which brought up concerns of high costs for fixing the model, one of the reasons for the new purchase. For now, the City plans to dispose of the old vehicle next year and the new truck should arrive in the fall.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW