The City of Estevan is looking at the water tower as a possible area to spend an influx of funding from the provincial gas tax.
The federal and provincial governments announced last week additional funding through the gas tax, and that Estevan would be receiving an extra $700,000 from the federal government. Roads, wastewater and recreation projects are among those that are eligible.
Estevan was originally slated to receive $677,497 through the fund in 2019.
City manager Jeff Ward said this money was not budgeted. The city had heard hints that there would be a double-up in gas tax funding, but until the spring of this year, it didn’t know for certain this would be happening.
“It is a little bit different in that the gas tax is a separate pool of money that’s separately audited outside of our normal budget,” said Ward. “When we received the funding, it’s not like there would be planned projects that we could do with the funding this year.
“You need to get approved projects submitted to the government, and then you can use that pool of funds.”
The city expects to spend the additional gas tax money in 2020.
Council will ultimately decide whether to spend the money on the water tower or elsewhere.
The next big project that would apply under the gas tax would be the refurbishment of the water tower, Ward said. It’s been on the books for a few years, but with the age of the asset, Ward said the city needs to put some money into it.
“This double-up will just help alleviate the pressure of that water tower project,” said Ward.
The city wants to affirm the structural foundation of the water tower and the lining inside to make sure there won’t be any issues with leaks or erosion.
Ward noted the city has a similar tower as North Battleford, and that community recently had a leak with its tower.
A gravity feed system could also be installed at the water tower in case of emergency.
Ward believes this GTF funding is a one-time only proposition to inject money into infrastructure and other community projects.
But he knows the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is lobbying to match this double-up every year to assist with sustainable cities.
The federal GTF is a long-term, indexed source of funding that supports a diverse range of local infrastructure projects across the province each year.
