The municipal cost of an August flood that submerged swaths of Warwick Township, damaging roads and flooding basements, has been pegged at $121,000.
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That includes replacing gravel, road repairs on Zion Line where pavement was shifted by the deluge Aug. 23and staff time that included controlling and closing roads, said township chief administrator Amanda Gubbels.
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The township in December submitted an application for that amount from provincial municipal disaster recovery assistance funding, she said.
“We’ve been advised (the application) was deemed complete, but we have not heard any decision or timeline on the provincial review,” she said.
Residents also were approved late last year to apply on their own for provincial funding to help with private property damage from the storm, which dropped 180 mm of rain in five hours, and Warwick has offered grant funding to help with backwater valve installation costs, and with disconnecting sump pumps from sanitary sewers.
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There have been many questions, and a half-dozen applications for that program so far, Gubbels said.
Council’s recently approved 2024 budget — that includes a five per cent tax hike, amid rising interest rates and municipal insurance premiums rising by eight per cent — includes $60,000 for the grant program, she said.
Budget deliberations in late January led to tapping township reserves to help fund the $7.88-million operating budget, though reserves remain at about $9.2 million, township officials said.
Among the more than $3.6 million in capital projects in this year’s budget, one in particular could help during future rain storms, Gubbels said.
Added on to a road and water main upgrade project that includes Sunset Avenue in Watford, council approved an extra $200,000 to double the size of the storm sewer along that roadway, she said.
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Even with the upgrade, it won’t “be able to deal with the capacity issues we saw on Aug. 23,” she said about the planned work, noting the drain is used by most of the town.
“But it does more than double the capacity of the existing drainage flow through Watford,” she said.
The township also continues to keep the drains clean, she said.
Township Mayor Todd Case, in a news release, called it “a tough budget year” and noted some capital projects had to be cut amid rising costs.
Others that remain include $650,000 for pulverizing and repaving Birnam Line and Brick Yard Line, $350,000 for a new salt shed, and $1.2 million for water main infrastructure along Erie, St. Clair and John Streets, as well as Sunset Avenue, township officials said.
Another $100,000 was approved for replacing lights at the Warwick Ball Park, officials said in the release.
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