I do not envy any politician around budget time.
Everyone has an opinion on how government money should be spent, it does not matter whether it is a civic, provincial, or federal elected official.
When it comes to tax increases, that can be a tough pill to swallow, especially for those who are low income but unfortunately these are decisions they have to make.
No one wants to increase taxes because, for one thing, that can cause a drop in their popularity the next time they run for political office.
We can point out examples of this in all levels of government from civic to federal.
Within the City of Humboldt’s budget, they are continuing a $6/year increase on the stormwater levy that was adopted by the last council, City Manager Roy Hardy reported at the Draft Budget meeting on March 6.
However, they do have the ability to review that for this budget, he said.
There will also be an overall road and infrastructure levy increase of five per cent for the 2017 budget.
The city knows where that money is going to go. It is earmarked specifically for storm water management projects and replacing aging infrastructure.
As discussed on page 7 of last week’s Journal, the city has to spend $1.111 million to stay ahead of annual depreciation of the city infrastructure. That includes roads, sewer, and water mains.
Looking at the water mains alone, according to Public Works and Utilities Director Peter Bergquist, we are looking at 35 per cent of water mains that need replacing, 15 per cent of those are between 70 to 100 years old.
These 35 per cent of water mains is responsible for the majority of the water main breaks in the past 30 years.
To put a monetary value on that, over $14 million worth of water mains are in poor or very poor condition. On a scale of one to five, one being good and five being poor, these are all the pipes with a four or five rating, reported Bergquist.
Breaking down that $14 million, it costs $84,000 for a 6” residential water main per block. That means the city has 169 blocks of water main to replace before these four and five rated water mains are in good condition.
And these costs do not include road repairs affiliated with repairs or the cost of service replacement to a home or business.
Replacing water mains is just one small piece of the infrastructure replacement puzzle that towns and cities across the country are dealing with.
Bergquist was sure to make note that the city cannot keep putting off major replacements.
A typical water main break cost between $4,000 to $5,000 when you look at time, labour, equipment, base gravel and asphalt repair, service replacements, and other costs, says Bergquist. A break on Main Street can cost even more.
When it comes to spending money on these kinds of issues, governments should not be afraid of public backlash in order to tackle these issues.
Yes, tax increases are hard to swallow. But when it comes to things like infrastructure replacements, these are definitely things we need.
