The City of Grand Forks is in the process of  putting together the budget for 2014. At the committee of the whole meeting (COTW) on Feb. 11, staff gave the capital budget presentation to council. The presentation identified council’s prioritization of capital items presented by management and the direction of new capital items by council.We divide it into the operating budget and the capital budget,î said Roxanne Shepherd, chief financial officer. At the last committee of the whole meeting (Jan. 27), we presented the initial operating plan for the year (2014). On Tuesday, we presented the initial capital presentation.îOn Feb. 24, the City will have an open house with an early draft of the budget ready for input from the public.Shepherd said early on in the process the budget looks good but staff will have to take into account things such as increase postage costs, increased insurance rates due to the fire, as well as the realignment of several departments.We’re doing well, she said. ìWe came in under budget this year. Many of the things we wanted to do in 2013 we got done. We got a lot accomplished and came in under budget so I think it looks good.îSome of the more expensive projects the city undertook last year were the downtown beautification project, asset management project alignment, trans-Canada trail project and Boundary storm sewer.The capital projects for 2014 were presented on Tuesday at the COTW meeting.We presented them (to council) after we graded them all internally based on three criteria: strategic, financial and opportunity,î said Sasha Bird, manager of development and engineering. The City has several projects that they will be undertaking this year including the multi-utility project on 3rd Street, 22nd Street and 68th Avenue.They’re being designed right now and they’ll be shelf-ready for when the grants are announced,î said Bird. We’ll apply for the grants and if we get them we’ll go forward, and if we don’t we won’t.îBird said the City told the residents before the referendum on the project that they would not borrow money for the project unless they received the grant to go with it.The multi-utility project would mean the City would replace the sewer, water, storm and roads for each street.Bird said overall the roads in Grand Forks are pretty good.We had a road condition assessment done in 2012 so it varies,î she said. Some roads are pretty good, some aren’t bad and some are worse. It depends. 68Th is our second main route into town so that gets used. 22Nd Street is the road to the hospital so that gets used. 3Rd street is downtown and it’s in pretty bad condition.îThe new tax rates for residents will come in after the financial plan has passed.We have to have the tax rates passed by May 15 and we have to have the financial plan passed before the tax rate,îsaid Shepherd. Timeline -Feb. 11 at COTW  Capital budget presentationFeb. 24 at COTW Financial plan schedule review with councilMar. 10 at COTW workshop  Budget presentation ñ revised draft versionMar. 24 at open council meeting 1st, 2nd and 3rd reading of financial plan bylawApr. 7 at open council meeting  Adopt financial plan bylawMay 15  audited financial statements must be completed and presented to the province

Grand Forks Gazette