YORKTON - It is interesting driving around Yorkton in July to see the activity of crews working on infrastructure improvements.
Whether it was the work adjacent to the Gallagher Centre, that which has the street closed next to the water tower or smaller efforts to replace strips of sidewalks and curbs, work is being done.
That of course is a good thing.
The problem is after seeing a crew at work one needs only turn the next corner and quite likely they find another sidewalk in disrepair if walking, or bounce through a pothole if driving.
Many streets in Yorkton in particular are a maze of potholes to be dodged around by the driver.
And while there are many visible examples of a rather massive infrastructure repair and replacement deficit, the situation is actually worse in the sense much of that deficit is unseen – water and sewer lines beneath city streets are old too.
It’s a situation Yorkton Council is aware of, but resources to finance projects are finite without raising taxes even more than has been the norm, and that simply is not a sustainable option because there is a limit to what taxpayers can bare.
So what is the solution moving forward?
The question is one no doubt being asked in most communities with a history now stretching back more than a century like Yorkton.
Municipal governments have always walked something of a fine line, finding the dollars to fund infrastructure in times of community growth, with keeping property taxes if not exactly palatable and least generally manageable for residents.
But that effort simply hasn’t put enough money into renewal projects, and while water and sewer lines and the like installed decades ago have remained operational longer than their anticipated life in many cases, age will ultimately catch up with the old installations, and the possibility of cascading failures looms large.
Now it is easy to look to the provincial and federal governments for infrastructure dollars, but if it’s an issue in Yorkton, then provincially dozens of cities and towns sit in need of far more dollars too, so where does the province finds those dollars.
Look to Ottawa and the issue grows exponentially with communities across the nation needing help.
And while looking the senior levels of government does spread to need for dollars across a broader base ultimately it is still money generated from taxes the only difference being which level of government takes the heat for raising them.
So how to address the shortfall remains a question without a clear answer, but as we bounce along potholed streets this summer we are reminded we need to collectively come up with a workable answer before conditions become critically worse.
