Paradise prioritizes w&s projects in funding request

By Mark Squibb | June 10, 2021

The Town of Paradise has submitted two water projects to the province for 2020-2023 multi-year capital works (MYCW) funding.

During the June 1 council meeting, Deputy Mayor Elizabeth Laurie explained the town is eligible to apply for MYCW every three years, and that the cost-share ratio is dependent on the type of project.

The Town had recently received approval for funding for just over $4 million.

“Council is required to submit a list of priorities to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to be funded under this program,” said Laurie. “So, both the committees of Engineering and Infrastructure, as well as Corporate Services, reviewed the priority list previously approved by council to determine the best projects to put forward. The Town’s share of the cost-shared funding, as I said earlier, is dependent on the type of project that we are applying for. Water and wastewater projects are cost-shared at 70-30, recreation projects are cost-shared at 60-40, and road upgrades are cost-shared at 50-50. So, both committees are recommending that water and sewer installation be submitted for this funding in accordance with the commitment made by council during our Budget 2021 deliberations. In addition, the town is also in the process of designing upgrades for lift station 10 and based on the current review of the engineering consultants, this project will cost more than originally estimated. As such, both of our committees have recommended submitting the lift station 10 upgrades as well.”

Both projects would fall under the water and wastewater category and would therefore be eligible to be cost-shared at 70-30, less the HST rebate.

The total funding, including HST, is just over $6.4 million, with the Town’s share being just under $1.75 million, less the HST rebate, with the lift station upgrades being valued at over $3.5 million and the water and sewer upgrades being valued at more than $2.8 million.

Council approved the submission of the two projects unanimously.