In the current tight economy, Olds town administrative staff are right to propose spending cuts to the town's proposed capital budget.
So far, plans call for lopping $2.4 million off that wish list.
While no one likes to see their pet project postponed or axed altogether, cuts have to be made – not only to help out hard-pressed taxpayers, but to send a signal to the whole community that council and town administrative staff are willing to make sacrifices, given that many of their fellow residents have had to do so in their own personal lives.
The proposed new $5.1 million capital budget – with at least some of the suggested cuts – is expected to be passed later this month. Here's hoping that happens.
One suggested cut is to eliminate completely a project to make improvements to the intersection of 57 Street and Highway 2A.
After all, the town is waiting for Olds College to conduct a traffic impact study after Centennial Village has been open for a year and that won't happen until late this year.
Also, any proposed changes to the intersection would have to be approved by Alberta Transportation, so that too could take some time.
The town is also looking at cutting two of four proposed solar-powered pedestrian crosswalks. They could be built later, after locations for them have been determined.
Administrative staff is also smart to wait until tenders to resurface existing trails and/or build new ones come in so they know how much such projects will really cost.
"We'll hammer that out when we get our unit prices. When we go to tender, we'll find out what it's going to cost us per lineal metre of asphalt and we'll finalize exactly how much we can do, depending on the price we'll have to pay," chief administrative officer Norm McInnis says.
Administrative staff says that could save $100,000. Hopefully that will be the case.
A $738,000 Street Improvement Program could be trimmed by $100,000 by not undertaking this year's plans to rebuild 54 Avenue.
Administrative staff are also correct that so far, there is "no compelling reason" to complete the $18,000 Memorial Way project this year. Although it's a nice idea to do that, it could be done in future years when the economy might be healthier.
It's also good to learn that other savings might be found in this year's proposed capital budget.
For example, council wondered whether it's worthwhile to spend $25,000 on 11 Hydrorider Aquabikes.
Storage was cited as an issue. Also, there was concern the bikes might duplicate spin classes offered at the CLC.
Olds Aquatic Centre staff say they would use the bikes for a class to lure people who currently don't utilize the pool.
