Simcoe County may double road construction budget this year

SIMCOE COUNTY – Simcoe County may double its spending on road construction this year to take advantage of low short-term borrowing costs, said Trevor Wilcox, the county’s general manager of corporate performance.

The low interest rates for infrastructure means the county can speed up major projects that are already underway.

The county’s draft 2015 budget has yet to be approved, but it sets aside $46.5 million for road construction. In years passed, spending has ranged between $21 and $29 million.

“The good thing for residents on that is we’re trying to minimize the pain, or at least shorten the pain of a lot of the major road projects that we have going on,” Wilcox said.

These road projects include: County Road 90 between Barrie and Angus, County Road 50 in Adjala-Tosorontio, County Road 17 in Severn Township and County Road 4 (Yonge Street) in Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury.

The county could speed up these projects by increasing the number of kilometres it completes this year, Wilcox said.

“We’re actually getting more stuff done. So instead of doing just a few kilometres we would double that,” he said.

The county is looking to borrow $9.5 million in short-term financing to cover the increased capital budget.

Infrastructure Ontario is charging 1.6 per cent on lines of credit for construction projects. Long-term rates sit around 4 to 4.5 per cent, Wilcox added.

“We may as well take advantage of the low rates now. You wouldn’t want to do an accelerated program when interest rates are really high,” Wilcox said.

Simcoe County’s draft budget lists a total of $69.1 million in capital expenditures to be spent in 2015.

The majority of this money is going to road construction. The rest is slated as follows: $6 million for road maintenance, $5 million for Simcoe County Housing Corporation, $5 million for paramedic services, $3 million for solid waste management and $1 million for long-term care and senior services.

A 50-unit addition to a Barrie seniors housing complex takes a $4 million chunk of the capital budget. Simcoe County Housing Corporation owns the 33 Brooks St. building.

“The good thing for the county is that we’re going to be recovering most of that in development charges, so the actual impact to the taxpayers on the levy is minimal,” Wilcox said. “The only thing they will be impacted on is the ongoing maintenance of it once it’s built.”

The county’s draft operating expenditures are listed at $365 million. This includes $84 million for Ontario Works, $49 million for long-term care and senior’s services, $44 million to be spent on solid waste management, $40 million on paramedic services, $40 million on social housing, $34 million for children and community services and $21 million on transportation and engineering.

The paramedic services budget is slated to increase to accommodate the hiring of sixteen front-line paramedics. This will help the department address an unprecedented increase in 911 calls.

County council is scheduled to approve the final budget Jan. 27.