By Mark Squibb
The Town of Bay Bulls has applied to the Province to help fund upgrades to Lower Path Road.
Last week, council voted to apply for cost sharing funding though the provincial government’s Municipal Capital Works program in the amount of $839,530 solely for upgrades to Lower Path Road.
Council has agreed to provide it’s share of the cost, some $380,657. The Town will be on the hook for any costs above the approved total.
Councillor Jason O’Brien noted the project had been on the books for some time and wondered if the budget had been updated to reflect current costs.
Town Manager Ashley Wakeham confirmed the updates have been made. Wakeham added that while the Town is applying for a 50/50 split, her fingers are crossed that the application may be coupled with a federal government Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) application, which would leave Bay Bulls responsible for only 10 percent of the total cost.
“We identified Lower Path Road a few years ago as being the most vulnerable municipally maintained road for storm surge events,” noted Deputy Mayor Ethan Williams. “Flood modeling that we’ve received also illustrated Lower Path as being the biggest problem area as well. So, that’s the rationale for as to why we’re looking at this now. And, like Ashley said, hopefully we can get the 90/10 ratio.”
If you’re a math wiz, you may have noticed that $380,657 is not half of $839,537.
The $839,530 price tag represents the total project cost, including HST.
Town Manager Ashley Wakeham explained that towns are required to calculate the eligible HST rebate, as rebate amounts are not eligible for funding, and the Town must pay the HST upfront and subsequently recover the rebate through the HST rebate program. After deducting the ineligible HST rebate amount, the total project cost is $761,315. Based on a 50/50 cost-sharing deal, the Town's contribution is $380,657, with the remaining $380,657 funded by the Province.
