Westlock County will apply for funding for two key infrastructure projects under the Small Communities Fund Program (SCFP) program.
Water pipes to the county’s industrial park and improvements to Westlock Municipal Airport are the two projects that the municipality is targeting, although the airport project requires a co-application with the Town of Westlock.
“There’s substantial costs to bring that airport back into compliance. The airport is not in compliance,” said Bill Mills, county director of engineering and infrastructure during council’s March 22 meeting.
Mills said that while there is a substantial cost to improve the site, it would be good for both municipalities.
“The economic benefits would be tremendous for the communities,” he said.
Under the SCFP, the federal, provincial and local governments take a three-way split on any approved project.
In the case of the airport improvements, the total estimated cost is just over $2.5 million and each council would be required to come up with a sixth of that, or about $420,000.
Without the SCFP dollars, any improvements will have to be paid for jointly by both municipalities.
As part of the airport project application, consultants noted that the runway could be lengthened by about 350 metres and widened up to 30 metres.
The project also includes widening of the taxiways, repairs to cracks in the tarmac, drainage and lighting improvements.
Reeve Bud Massey fears if it doesn’t happen soon, the improvements may never happen.
“The airport has some significant issues,” he said. “We either deal with those issues where we pay a third of the cost by the granting structure, or one day we [both councils] are going to pay all of the costs.
“My concern is if we don’t apply for it, and if we don’t move forward, one day we’re going to have to do it or close the airport.”
Money available under SCFP can only be used for a select range of projects and municipalities can only submit two projects for consideration.
Three weeks ago town council approved an application for money to improve the municipality’s reservoir under the same funding scheme.
The county also hopes to gain funding for its own water infrastructure project.
Currently, water and sewage is trucked in and out of the municipal industrial park, located on Highway 44 just south Westlock.
It is hoped that SCFP money will be made available to for that project, which would involve the laying of pipes to the park and within the estate itself.
“The second application we’d like to submit is the main waterline to feed the industrial sub-division. That also is a high qualifier within the guidelines,” Mills said.
“There is a distribution system within that sub-division right now to some [of the lots], and we would be able to finish off the system.”
Originally the county had hoped the project would cost around $125,000, but the most recent estimates for the work put the job at over $500,000.
Opportunity to apply for the funding is only open for 30 days and the short window has made it challenging for the county.
The SCFP funding opportunity comes at an inopportune time for both municipalities, as it’s been only in the last two months that their capital works and improvements budgets were approved.
CAO Peter Kelly said there were options to find funding for the projects, including drawing on funds from land sales at the site and using land tax revenue from lots located within the airport grounds.
“There are reserve monies for the airport from past land transactions,” Kelly said.
“It is considered an asset of the airport in terms of using those funds to reinvest into the airport.”
Any money raised from that site goes into a shared account that’s jointly administrated by the town and county. That reserve sits at around $250,000 and should reduce the funds each municipality would need to come up with.
Should the town be successful in its reservoir expansion application, it will set aside some funding for that project during the 2016 budget process.
Any money allocated under the scheme comes with a two-year-spending limit and work has to start within that timeframe.
