YORKTON - The City of Yorkton will submit its proposed upcoming York Road reconstruction for some federal dollars.
The City of Yorkton receives annual funding from the Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF), formerly known as the Municipal Gas Tax Program, explained Amber Matechuk – City Controller with the city at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
The grant is typically used for large scale capital projects, she added.
“We receive approximately $980,000 annually from this grant, which goes towards the annual capital budget,” said Matechuk. “. . . Previous projects using this funding include: Highway #9 improvements, street light improvements, roadway reconstruction, storm water management and most recently the reconstruction of Darlington/Mayhew.”
“Now that the Darlington/Mayhew project is completed, the City is required to submit a new project application called an Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) to apply this funding to go forward.”
The project best suited to submit for a new IIP for this funding is the York Road Reconstruction project, suggested Matechuk.
By submitting a large scale project, the City will not have to re-submit a new IIP as frequently, since it will likely take many years of the grant to be used before the project is funded, she reasoned.
“This project qualifies as an eligible project category as it addresses local roads/highways, drinking water and wastewater. As well, the project is aligned with the long term plans of the City and meets many desired outcomes of the CCBF program,” offered Matechuk.
The estimated York Road project cost being submitted on the IIP application is $16.8 million, in line with the original budget submitted to Council in 2021.
“Given that the City receives approximately $980,000 annually for this program, the grant will be applied to this project for many years, while the City likely takes on external debt in order to finance the construction,” reiterated Matechuk.
