By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Sounding the alarm over debt projections was the primary topic of discussion for the Town of Oliver at their April 11 special meeting, where they went over the 2023-2027 Financial Plan Review.
“Wow, we are not really in a great spot here for sure and I don’t see personally how we are going to get through this with debt funding,” Mayor Martin Johansen said in the meeting.
The financial plan that was presented to council showcased some difficult decisions that are on the horizon. The town’s reserve funds have been in decline from a total of $10.4 million in 2020 to a projected $4 million in 2026. The projections through 2027 continue this trend.
The amount of debt projected to rise to just over $12 million by 2027.
In the shadow of this are projects such as the general and sewer works on the horizon such as the Sawmill Road Rehabilitation project, intersection-realignment at McKinney and Black Sage roads, and Tuc-el-nuit Drive slated for 2025-2026 which will require debt due to the lack of reserves.
Speaking on the debt funding Councilor Aimee Grice said: “I think residents might look at that as a bad thing. If you think about who these projects are benefiting, it’s people that are going to be 30-50 years down the road for these larger capital projects”.
Councilor David Mattes noted his reluctance to saddle the future with debt but appreciated the difficulty of decisions that have to be made.
“We need to be financially, fiscally smart here, making sure we do what we need to do ahead of time, and making sure we have the flexibility to deal with emergencies when they show up,” Johansen said.
Later in the meeting, the 2022-2026 Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw was read a second and third time by council.
Within this same meeting, council approved $86,000 to hire a social development coordinator for a one year contract position for. Money came from out of the COVID Restart Reserve and therefore would not be adding to the financial burden of the town.
There are some projects on the horizon where there is not enough reserve funding to complete them. These will be placed in a grant funding list for 2024.
If grant funding comes through, then projects on this list could be paid for, otherwise it must be decided whether to pay for them with debt.
These are projects like the CPR Station sprinkler system and the Canal Solar Panel Mud Lake Pump house among others. A decision to go through with some of the larger projects that are in the plan right now will require debt funding of around $7 million.
