Acting Treasurer Michael Beal
Tantramar Town Council is scheduled to meet on Monday to hear a public presentation on Phase III of Sackville’s Lorne Street flood control project.
According to figures supplied to Warktimes by Acting Treasurer Michael Beal, the project could come in $566,905 over budget unless modifications are made to the final contract.
It calls for digging a retention pond behind the community gardens in the industrial park as well as installing culverts and digging ditches to drain stormwater into the Tantramar River.
On Wednesday, the town unveiled four bids on the project, the lowest from Beale and Inch for $5,608,516.
When that bid is added to contracts already awarded to the Moncton engineering firm Englobe and Beale and Inch for constructing a retention pond in the old Sackville quarry, the funds needed would exceed the amount currently available from all three levels of government:
Town Engineer Jon Eppell said Wednesday that council would receive a public presentation on the project before it votes on whether to approve it.
According to the agenda posted on the town’s website, there appears to be no opportunity for members of the public to ask questions at Monday’s meeting.
Budget presentation
Tantramar council will also receive a presentation Monday on the 2023 town budget that was imposed by the province as part of the municipal reform process.
Preliminary figures obtained by CHMA reporter Erica Butler show that property tax rates are up in the local service districts, but down slightly in Sackville and Dorchester.
To read her report, click here.
Apparently 100% of the overage will have to be paid by the Town of Tantramar taxpayers. Perhaps they should delete building the additional culvert and control structure, (that the new plans show), leading from the small Lorne Street/Crescent Street pond, that will go under the existing walking trail. There appears to me to be no justification for this additional pipe installation. The Town may save 5% of the cost of the project, or over $300,000, by this simple deletion.
Did you know that the drawings for review, from Englobe, were ready on December 16th, well before they went to tender on January 20th. It sure makes one wonder why the citizens of Tantramar were not allowed to see them with five weeks available in between those two dates. It would have been very easy for Englobe, and our Town to do an open house early in January and have some conceptual drawings presented for everyone who is paying their part of this $6 million project. Englobe, after all is being paid over half a million dollars for their part in this project. Hopefully this project will not end up like the contaminated soil fiasco simply because citizens were not allowed to have any input into the spending of their money.
I was so hopeful that things would now be different with the formation of our new, and improved, Town of Tantramar.
Being a U.N. Wetlands Model City is going to be a very expensive ongoing project…. expect more of this insanity and spending – there appear to be no brakes on this machine.