Niverville’s town council recently released highlights from their 2023 budget planning sessions, held in early December. This year’s brainstorming session involved two days and a total of 20 hours in roundtable discussions held in the Town of Niverville’s municipal board room.
“This is a plan; this isn’t a promise,” Dyck says of budget 2023. “This is what council views as the direction they would like to go. But should there be unplanned expenses or unforeseen opportunities, plans can change.”
Some of the proposed highlights for the coming year include the hoped-for acquisition of a new water tanker to assist Fire and Emergency Services.
Council will also undertake to modernize and make accessibility improvements to the lobby and washroom facilities at the Centennial Arena.
In terms of outdoor infrastructure, a section of Fourth Avenue South will undergo a complete overhaul of the street, sidewalk, sewer, and drainage. Town CAO Eric King describes this street as one of the worst roads in the community, with a long history of inadequate drainage.
Council also plans to apply to the province to install two new crosswalks along Fifth Avenue South. One would be situated at Hampton Drive North near the Niverville Middle School. The latter would provide a safer pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Hampton Drive South and Hespeler Park Drive.
The town will also continue to assist with ongoing improvements to some of the community’s parks, including Opa’s Park, Station Park, and the off-leash dog park. Additionally, they have committed to increased funding for tree-planting and maintenance.
With the anticipation of a new development soon beginning along Highway 311 west between Krahn and Wallace Roads, council plans to complete the design phase for intersections and commercial access routes in this area.
Public open house events will be announced for this development area shortly.
Another new reality is the impending opening of Niverville’s previously announced RCMP office. At this stage, Mayor Dyck says this project will likely be completed around this time next year, as it comes with an approximately 11-month build.
Council is in agreement that the town should complete a full payout of the costs of the RCMP office in 2023, even if it comes at the risk of putting some other projects on the backburner for now.
“Council talked about it,” says Dyck. “It’s about a million-dollar touc,h so the reason we may not be doing other things in 2023 is because council has made the decision that they just want to see it paid for and move on, as opposed to a four-year borrow and public hearings to [approve] the borrow. We’re just going to [pay] it from general revenues.”
Mayor Dyck says that council has worked hard on bringing this important public safety service to the community in the past couple of years.
“The value is intangible, because without the Town of Niverville making some concessions, [the RCMP office] wouldn’t be here,” says Dyck.
He points out that a number of years ago, when people were asking about a greater police presence here, the RCMP still felt that Niverville was being adequately serviced by the St. Pierre detachment.
“We said to them, ‘If we provide the space, would you be willing to come?’” Dyck says. “And they said they would provide us with members, which gives residents greater police presence. So we kind of made it a Niverville hybrid model.”
From council’s longer-term plans arises a goal to find additional space for the Public Works and Emergency Services departments, which currently share a single facility on Bronstone Drive. The fast growth of these two departments is a result of equally rapid residential growth throughout the community.
“Council recognizes that we have to deal with this, so how do we separate those two [in terms] of who goes where and what is needed?” Dyck asks. “That will likely mean a new site for somebody and, depending on annexation, where land is available.”
Finally, council is preparing to make a dedicated effort to provide a public library program and additional daycare space in the coming years. But first, the mayor says, debt incurred from the CRRC build will need to be paid in full.
“Council recognizes the need for both [a public library and additional daycare],” says Dyck. “We’ve recognized that this is the direction we want to go. But COVID-19 definitely slowed the donation drive [for the CRRC]. Yet bills still come due, so we’ve got about five years left. Which is better than 25 years left.”
Dyck adds that the acquisition of a major donor willing to purchase naming rights for the new arena is still a very real possibility. Such an occurrence could significantly reduce council’s timeline in paying off the loan.
A more detailed budget report along with financial impacts will be released by The Citizen as soon as it becomes available.
