City council will decide in June where they should put about $7 million generated by a 2023 surplus and a recent land sale.
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“We have a finance report coming in June to deal with the surplus from last year, which could be in the order of $3.5 to $4 million,” Mayor Kevin Davis said at an April 30 meeting of council. “We also have the proceeds from the (land) sale coming through but we won’t actually have that money until the deal closes likely in a few weeks.”
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Council, Davis said, will be in a better position to make decisions about what to do with the money after receiving a report about the surplus. As well, councilors will also have updated information concerning the city’s capital needs.
The question arose during the April 30 council meeting when councilors approved the sale of a 50 per cent stake in a seven-acre parcel of land on the northeast corner of Shellard Lane and Strickland Avenue to the Grand Erie District School Board.
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The deal is tied to a school board and City of Brantford project to build an elementary school, new library and recreation center on the West Brant property.
Once the deal is finalized the school board and the city will be joint owners of the property.
Councilors approved the sale but were divided on how best to use the proceeds.
Coun. Richard Carpenter (Ward 4) suggested putting the more than $3.5 million from the sale into the city’s hospital reserve fund.
“I think we need to start funding more for the hospital,” Coun. Carpenter said.
Councilors Michael Sullivan and Mandy Samwell agreed.
Although the city has a plan to fund its share of the new hospital, Sullivan said he believes residents want the city to expedite, or move as quickly as possible on the process.
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New hospital construction is a provincial responsibility, but the community and municipalities are expected to cover about 10 per cent of the cost. A new hospital is at least eight years in the future.
The city has put $8.5 million into a reserve fund established 14 months ago for the new hospital. This fund is expected to grow to about $50 million over the next eight years.
Plans call for the additional $50 million of the city’s share to come from debentures.
During the discussion, Coun. Greg Martin reminded councilors of their earlier decision to move up the Veteran’s Memorial Parkway expansion project by a year. If council decides not to put the $3.5 million into the capital funding envelope it could make it difficult to fund the parkway expansion project, Martin said.
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Davis, meanwhile, said he is a vigorous advocate for funding the hospital. However, the city has other important capital needs that require funding.
By way of example, the city will soon be receiving a report from the Grand River Conservation Authority concerning ice jam remediation work needed to prevent flooding in Eagle Place, Davis said.
The remediation work includes the topping of the dike in Eagle Place to help prevent the dike from being breached during an ice jam.
“An ice jam would have a devastating impact on Eagle Place if the dike was breached,” Davis said adding the city doesn’t have money in the capital expenditure budget for the dike remediation work at present.
“We do have other capital projects coming forward and I think we need to take a balanced approach,” Davis said.
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