Road work comprises much of Caledon's capital budget
By ALAN LICZYK

The bulk of the Town of Caledon's $31.1-million capital program will be going to the public works and engineering department for road work and park improvements.

Five department heads presented their capital spending proposals to Caledon council last Tuesday.

About 77 per cent or $24 million of the capital budget is earmarked for public works and engineering. The largest expenditure is $14.9 for the Bolton arterial roads. This will be financed with $9.7 million in provincial grants, $3.9 million from Peel region and the City of Brampton, $551,200 from the hydro reserve, $300,000 in development charges and $475,000 from tax levy. The BAR work includes the widening of Coleraine Drive to four lanes and intersection improvements along this road, plus intersection improvements on Albion-Vaughan Road at Commercial Road and Industrial Road.

The next largest expenditure is $2.6 million for road reconstruction in Inglewood. This will be financed with $1 million from Peel region, $784,000 from development charges, $478,000 from the hydro reserve and $335,000 from the gas tax and aggregate levy.

The Town applied to the Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund for funding assistance for the Inglewood road work but was turned down which annoyed Mayor Marolyn Morrison.

She noted COMRIF only gave 0.007 per cent funding to Greater Toronto Area municipalities.

"I thought for sure we'd get it this time," she said. "It sounded very good for us and we got nothing."

The public works and engineering budget also includes $1.2 million for rural road hard surfacing, $1.1 million for road rehabilitation, $355,200 for construction of McEwan Drive East in Bolton from its current terminus to Commercial Road, $344,760 for pedestrian system improvements, $302,225 for drainage and erosion works, $277,032 for bridges and structures, $197,200 for trailway improvements, $110,000 for the operations fleet, $87,000 for park improvements, $50,000 for traffic calming, $38,280 for sports field improvements and $16,500 for tree planting.

Next to present was Eriks Eglite, director of recreation and property services. He proposed a department budget of $5.6 million.

The largest expenditure was $4.5 million for a new Caledon OPP detachment office. Eglite said this will meet the OPP's needs for the next 15 to 20 years. He added the police would like to occupy it by late 2008. He told Councillor Richard Whitehead they don't have a location for the building yet because they still have to go through an analysis.

Councillor Doug Beffort wanted assurance this building won't cost the Town one penny. Chief administrative officer Patrick Moyle told him there will be no cost to the Town.

The building will be financed with $3.9 million in reserves held by Peel region, plus $600,000 from development charges.

"This is a Town of Caledon-owned facility," Eglite told council.

Fire Chief Brad Bigrigg followed with the presentation of the fire and emergency services budget which totalled $550,000.

The fire expenditures included $200,000 for a tanker at the Caledon East fire station, $90,000 for upgrades at the Inglewood, Snelgrove and Mono Mills fire stations, $85,000 for a Peel fire radio system upgrade, $55,000 to replace old air supply equipment at the Bolton fire station filling station, $50,000 for equipment replacement at the nine fire stations in Caledon, $50,000 for an addition of 1,500 square feet and a basement at the Caledon East fire administration office on Old Church Road and $20,000 for firefighter bunker gear and breathing apparatus.

Whitehead asked Bigrigg if the Palgrave fire station needs expanding.

"We're not there yet," Bigrigg replied.

He added it's not being used to the extent to warrant expansion.

Whitehead noted growth goes on continuously in the rural area.

Chief librarian Bill Manson was up next with the $280,000 library services budget.

The library expenditures included $140,000 for books to account for growth, $75,000 for computer services, $35,000 for expanding public space at the Alton branch and $30,000 for A/V materials.

Treasurer Sam Jones concluded the presentations with the $600,000 corporate services budget.

His department's expenditures included $500,000 for information technology projects and $100,000 for replacement of financial system software.