Princeton’s cemetery, and snow removal, are getting special attention from town council in the 2019 budget.
The proposed indoor aquatic centre has also been pencilled into the municipality’s five-year financial plan, for the first time.
According to infrastructure director Jamie Umpleby, $100,000 will be withdrawn from the cemetery’s perpetual care account to fund capital improvements.
The condition of the Princeton cemetery, on Cemetery Road off Copper Mountain Road, has prompted complaints from residents and visitors in the past, said Umpleby.
Cemetery improvements also formed a plank in Mayor Spencer Coyne’s 2018 election platform.
Related: Condition of Princeton Cemetery causes grief
“We are basically replacing the fence around the whole cemetery,” said Umpleby. “The fence that is there right now is in poor shape and it’s missing in some places…Deer can get in there and cattle can get in there from the ranch. They start eating the vegetation and destroying some of the plants.”
The improvement project also includes upgrades to the cemetery’s irrigation system. A lack of available water – one of the two wells servicing the cemetery is no longer functioning – has prompted concerns about dry, yellowing grass.
The plan is to pipe water from a nearby spring to supply the grounds, said Umpleby.
“It was actually a source of water for the cemetery many years ago, so we are revitalizing an old supply.”
Work on the project will begin soon.
“We are going to be starting this spring and summer. We would like to get the irrigation up and running before it gets really hot.”
Umpleby said the public works department has been devoting more time to cemetery maintenance and that “we have one person who will be dedicated to the cemetery. It won’t be 100 per cent of their time …but the majority of time will be spent there.”
The financial plan received first and second readings at Monday’s council meeting, to allow for a period of public consultation.
The proposed budget, totalling $7.17 million in expenses based on $7.42 million in revenue , provides for a $249,000 surplus.
As previously reported it includes a five per cent property tax increase which is earmarked to build reserves for infrastructure. It also covers increases in the town’s collective agreement with its employees and the new employer health tax, which will cost the municipality $26,000 annually.
The summary budget presented Monday night allows for $165,000 to replace a truck and snow-blower, transferred from a reserve fund. It also directs $1.14 million to the ‘future amenity’ reserve for the construction of the Princeton Health, Wellness and Aquatic Centre.
Related: Pool decision is now out of Princeton’s hands
Funding and expenses for the indoor pool are included in the five-year plan, with total capital expenditures for 2020 and 2021 forecast at $15.17 million and $12.17 million respectively.
In January the Town of Princeton submitted a $20 million grant application, to higher levels of government, to fund the lion’s share of the sometimes controversial proposal.
“We felt it only prudent that we would actually plan for it because we’ve made the application. We want to make sure we are prepared if we are successful in getting it,” said CAO Lyle Thomas.
Princeton will have to likely wait until the end of 2019 to learn if the pool will become a reality.
“This council and previous councils have done a good job lobbying the provincial government and the federal government and so I think that we’ve done the very best that we could to be successful,” he said.
“I am cautiously optimistic. I think that we put together a very professional and very qualified application.”
The financial plan also includes a 41 per cent increase in the cost of waste management next year, from $582,000 to $820,000.
Last month the municipality signed an new contract for landfill management.
“It’s on a contract basis,” said Thomas. “It’s been held firm for five years and now we are into a new contract and there is…inflation that has to be factored in.”
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