Gatineau’s 2017 budget:
Big infrastructure spending planned
During its November 9 budget meeting, Gatineau’s Capital and Budget Committee and Executive Committee announced plans to cover the infrastructure deficit. The city is working on several fronts, including in its three-year infrastructure plan.
In 2003, the three-year plan amounted to $37 million; today, it is around $115 million. Council is starting a life-cycle reserve, which amounted to $14 million in 2016; a dedicated infrastructure tax; procuring subsidies from provincial and federal sources; and strategically planning how it will invest its capital.
The dedicated infrastructure tax will allow the city to complete $25.2 million worth of work. Since 2012, this tax has permitted $81.2 million worth of work on various projects. As for the subsidies, since 2007, Gatineau has received $366.3 million, which, added to the city’s contribution of $132.7 million, has led to $499 million in repairs and renovations to water filtration plants and the sewer and water line system.
In the next five years, the city plans to make “massive and strategic” investments, totalling $664 million for improving roads and cycling paths, investing in community housing, and repairing 81 kilometres of the water system (6.8% of the whole network) to remove discoloured water in certain sectors, including Aylmer.
In 2017, Gatineau will continue work on two projects announced in 2016: repairs to Notre-Dame Street ($19.33 million) and to Saint Joseph Boulevard ($42.6 million). It will invest $34.9 million on the water and sewer systems; $23.5 million on streets and roads; $2.9 million on maintaining and improving municipal buildings; $2 million, along with subsidies, on the social housing program AccèsLogis Québec; and $1.2 million on its residential renovation program.
Gatineau will spend $3.8 million to expand recreational paths, to be completed by the end of 2019. It has reserved $1.4 million annually to develop cycling paths and $470,000 annually to repair existing paths; $470,000 to construct new sidewalks; and the same amount, $470,000, to install traffic-calming measures.
The city plans work on two intersections. In 2017, Boulevard Maloney West and Saint-Louis will be done, while Aylmer’s Boulevard des Allumettières’ Broad and Klock intersection will be done in 2021. As it does each year, it will spend $3.3 million on its four-year parks plan.
D’Arcy McGee-Symmes and Grande-Rivière High Schools will be getting synthetic sports fields, $2.5 million and $2.4 million, respectively; the Education Ministry is contributing $1.25 million for each field.
