91原创 Township council will consider borrowing $9.76 million to repair leak roofs in two firehalls, the W.C. Blair Pool, and the West 91原创 Hall.

On Monday, Feb. 3, the council received a report about its facilities renewal plan, which listed 80 facilities across the community, all of which will need some kind of maintenance, upgrades, or repairs over the next five years.

In total, over a five-year period, the Township could spend up to $86 million on necessary work on the facilities, which range from ice rinks to firehalls to the RCMP headquarters to the Township's main civic administration facility.

Mayor Eric Woodward put forward a motion to fund repairs and renovations to four facilities, all of which have leaking roofs. Those include Fire Halls 3 (Aldergrove) and 6 (Murrayville), West 91原创 Hall in Walnut Grove, and the W.C. Blair Pool in Murrayville.

Township staff told the council that issues with leaking roofs or, at West 91原创 Hall, with the overall building envelope, have been going on for four to five years at each facility.

Councillor Kim Richter raised concerns that the Township was again looking to borrow money for projects. She has been critical of the increasing use of borrowing bylaws, which at present total up to $676 million in total potential borrowing.

Not all the funds approved have actually been borrowed as of yet. Money is actually borrowed when projects are approved or begin construction.

Coun. Tim Baillie sarcastically suggested that instead of borrowing money for repairs, they could put buckets on the desks of people working in the firehalls.

He also argued that if the Township doesn't move forward, the costs will only go up by 10 or 15 per cent a year from now,

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 fund this one," Baillie said of repairing the West 91原创 Hall building envelope, "we can look at another facility even further degrading.鈥�

Coun. Barb Martens asked if the funding will include new washers and dryers for firefighters, who use them to clean toxic residue off their callout gear, and Woodward indicated that the cleaning facilities were part of the budget.

鈥淚鈥檓 really glad to hear that," Martens said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to ensure the safety of our firefighters.鈥�

Woodward indicated that he felt these repairs were doing the minimum, and that the lack of facility repairs had been chronic for years.

The question was whether to fund them now with borrowed money, or add two or three per cent to property taxes, he said.

The Township is currently proposing a 4.5 per cent property tax increase this year, which includes a percentage for a longer-term infrastructure renewal fund.

Recent months have seen the Township council look at other major infrastructure issues that will cost mlllions to repair, including upgrades to culverts and aging water reservoirs, something Woodward pointed out.

The motion passed 8-1 with Richter opposed.