CORNWALL – SDG Counties Council voted November 17 to change how it will pay for a road reconstruction project.
Council decided during budget deliberations in December 2024 that it would finance the bulk of the County Road 22 reconstruction project. That project rebuilt 6.4 kilometres of road from the ground up, including hydro relocation and drainage improvements. The road connects Highway 138 to Maxville and had an estimated $9 million price tag.
The project, expected to be completed by the end of November, is nearly $1 million under budget.
Administration offered at the council meeting a new and familiar path to paying for the project, reserves.
The last three years saw council set aside reserve funds to pay for the CR22 project. That reserve, about $3 million, was always to be used towards the project. Dana Grant, manager of capital works roads for SDG said using existing reserves instead of financing the remaining approximately $5 million was a better option for Counties. SDG Counties has no debt, and has never financed a capital project in its 175 year history. Council agreed with Grant.
“I don’t want to be part of the first council in SDG history to borrow,” Councillor Jamie MacDonald (North Glengarry) told council, quipping that his view would change if council were funding the long-awaited Alexandria “streetscape” project.
Financing the balance of the CR22 project over five years would cost the Counties $648K in interest; over 10 years, the interest cost would have tallied at $1.56 million.
Several councillors spoke in support of using reserves instead of financing. The principal reserve to be used is the “Now Needs Roads” reserve. That reserve presently stands at over $3.9 million and was established to capture any budget surplus in capital road work for following years to tackle other roads that needed work.
Councillor Tony Fraser (North Dundas) asked how the Now Needs reserve would get replenished, which Treasurer Rebecca Russell explained it was automatically replenished when there were surpluses in road work budgets.
The balance of the funding for the CR22 project will come from any money that would go into the Now Needs reserve at the end of this construction season, and from a discretionary
Roads Project Reserve.
Also at SDG Counties…
SDG Counties deferred a decision on paying compensation to North Dundas to assist with costs related to putting out a forest and bog fire in the Alvin Runnalls Conservation Area. North Dundas asked for $46K to assist with heavy equipment costs related to creating the firebreaks needed to extinguish the fire. Fraser told council that the state of emergency declaration did not qualify North Dundas for provincial compensation, as it was below three per cent of the taxation rate of the township.
All the major bridge and culvert projects in SDG have wrapped up for the construction season except the Inkerman bridge on County Road 3. Work is nearing completion, and is expected to be finished by early December.
In an update to council, paving operations are set to be completed around November 21, with cleanup around the site happening the first week of December.
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