Pressure building on Holyrood’s public works budget

By Craig Westcott/October 28, 2022

Holyrood councillor Steve Winsor is warning his colleagues the Town is going to need to bigger pot of money for public works next year.

Winsor, who chairs the infrastructure and public works committee, served the warning last week in light of council’s upcoming budget deliberations. 

Winsor was led to make the remark after giving an overview of the Town’s recent public works activities, including the effort to trim back alders from the sides of roads.

“We had a great growing season for alders,” Winsor said. “Lots of residents have come forward with their concerns. The alders are gone wild, they’re reaching out onto certain roads scraping vehicles. Again, with safety being number one, there are certain areas where potentially that could be obstructing your view and potentially cause an accident. We did have a campaign this year (to trim them back), but it did not get completed in all areas… Unfortunately, we are running low on funds, and that’s an issue. We need to invest more funds in that area for next year, for sure.”

Turning to the budget generally, Winsor said more money is needed in other places too.

“We have reviewed, as a committee, with the director, every line item in the budget for infrastructure and public works – what was budgeted this year, what was actually spent,” Winsor said. “And we’ve already gone over or are trending over in almost every category. It was not totally surprising given the inflation that we all see every day. The cost of doing things in the Town goes up too, as we procure materials and contract services. Everything is more expensive. So, we’ve gone through all of that and we’ve also reviewed what our recommendations would be for the 2023 budget… But the reality is, as the mayor says, we’ve stretched the elastic band as far as we can go, and we will be looking for more money for infrastructure and public works. But I know that every other department is looking for money too.”