Did city council do its due diligence?

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2022 (1152 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“To borrow money for the benefit of the whole of Brandon’s population would be foolish when we can instead use it to benefit a very few people and allow large companies to add to their already substantial resources. Brandonites are generous that way.”

— Yesterday’s letter to the editor from Elliott Oleson

More than a dozen years ago, Brandon began planning in earnest for the third and final phase of construction for the city’s industrial wastewater treatment facility.

It was a $49-million upgrade that was to provide for both residential and industrial growth for more than 25 years, and was to make Brandon the first municipality in the province to be in full compliance with the Clean Environment Commission’s recommended standards for nutrient removal.

But the biggest feather in the cap of local politicians, particularly then-Conservative MP Merv Tweed, who worked hard behind the scenes on this file, was the fact that the project was ultimately cost-shared between the federal, provincial and municipal governments, as well as locally interested private partners.

In the fall of 2009, the city received a combined $33 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments. The city and two major industry partners, Maple Leaf Foods and Wyeth Organics, split the rest — $9.7 million, $700,000 and $6.1 million, respectively — as reported by The Brandon Sun at the time.

In fact, of the total $76.9-million cost of all three phases of the wastewater upgrades, Brandon residents contributed $22.4 million.

As the former Meadows councillor, Jim McCrae, exclaimed to the Sun: “Where else can you get a $76-million asset and pay only about $22 million for it as a taxpayer? It is huge.”

The argument in favour of the project, in this particular case, was excellent. Not only would major employers in our city stand to benefit — and grow — from the investment, but our entire city would enjoy significant wastewater improvements.

This project, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale, came more than a dozen years before the major announcement yesterday by the City of Winnipeg, Province of Manitoba and the federal government for $552 million for that city’s second phase of upgrades for its North End Sewage Treatment Plant.

As reported by the Winnipeg Free Press, politicians gathered to promise $552 million for the next round of construction in the three-phase project, for which the feds will pay up to $201 million, the province will provide about $167 million and the city will cover at least $184 million.

While this funding is not a panacea, as there has been a $360-million price hike for the project that has yet to be addressed, it is good to see that efforts by the City of Winnipeg to move the project along are bearing some fruit, as well as some much-needed financial help.

Which brings us back to Brandon, and a plan in the works by our current city council to borrow $30 million to build two lift stations and new forcemains. The two lift stations the city wants to build would be located near 34th Street and Patricia Avenue, and on 18th Street south of Patricia Avenue. The 34th Street lift station would be built first.

As we have reported, the city annexed land in 2011 that has since become the Brookwood and Bellafield developments. Other lands being serviced by this development south of Patricia Avenue were annexed in 2018.

When those lands were annexed, there was a plan to provide them with wastewater service as required by the Municipal Board. But as the city’s director of planning has stated, Brandon is “significantly behind” the last development plan, and we’re apparently behind in growth.

And of course, the estimated costs to make these upgrades have increased, which is one reason why our city council is pushing to borrow money now rather than put the decision off. The city argues that the costs are expected to be covered over time by funds collected through development services charges as well as through increases to the water and wastewater utility rates between 2023 and 2026.

But the necessary water rate hikes are going to be steep, and on top of the extra taxes that we will be forced to pay over the next few decades to manage that new debt, even with development service charges.

Without any hint of irony, developers operating in these residential developments have robustly come out in favour of the city’s plan to borrow the necessary funds, and are pushing this administration to move the project forward more quickly. That much was obvious during the public hearing on the project held late last month.

But what is not so obvious is whether members of this council have made any effort to ask our local federal and provincial representatives to look for some financial help for this project. If two lift stations and some forcemains are that necessary to Brandon’s future growth, surely a case can be made for federal and provincial grant money. Perhaps the question was raised — and then quickly forgotten — during some minute-less “information” meetings?

And what of these private companies that stand to benefit? Whatever happened to private-public partnerships? Or do these not apply in cases of business and residential developments?

The letter writer on yesterday’s editorial page summed it up rather nicely in his masterclass of sarcasm.

A $30-million price tag is not insignificant. And when there are untold dollars needed in so many other worthy projects in this community, it’s worth asking in all seriousness whether council has done its due diligence.

» Matt Goerzen, editor