Kingsville approves long-term infrastructure savings plan

(CTV News file image)

Kingsville council has adopted a plan to put away more money to maintain existing infrastructure and other assets.

Kingsville has nearly $890 million worth of infrastructure replacement costs, such as roads, bridges and culverts, water, and facilities.

Council heard that the town should be saving about $18.7 million each year. Currently it’s only saving $10.5 million, just 56 per cent of what’s needed.

Council approved adding $1.45million more to reserves next year, which represents a 3.3 per cent yearly tax increase in order to reach a funding goal of 85 per cent by 2040.

Ryan McLeod, Kingsville’s director of finance and corporate services and treasurer, said if the saving deficit is not addressed, residents will be left to deal with lower levels of service.

“Roads with potholes, sidewalks cracking, streetlights burning out and not being replaced. I don’t think anybody wants that. If we just try to deal with things as they come up in any given budget year, we’re going to have volatile tax rates. I don’t think that’s going to be acceptable to the residents,” McLeod said.

Mayor Dennis Rogers said he was happy there is a plan in place.

“There’s a billion dollars of current infrastructure replacement costs that we have, and our annual funding requirement for what we’re putting away now is only 56 per cent, 56 per cent. So you can imagine, can we afford to kick the can down the road anymore?,” said Rogers.

He added, he understands it’s a lot of money.

“It’s something that we need every resident to understand is these are the things we have to be good at. These are the things that we have to pay for. These are the things that are not political. This is our core service,” he said.

The town is considering introducing a storm sewer fee for urban areas in 2027, since rural drainage is already paid by property owners and it wouldn’t be fair to charge them twice.