Grey Highlands council has approved the final borrowing of over $3.1 million to finance a number of completed capital projects.
At its meeting on Nov. 15, council approved a borrowing bylaw to add $3,185,015 in new debt for several capital projects completed recently.
The projects include: the Feversham sand dome ($725,001), vehicles for the municipality’s light fleet ($183,150), vehicles for the municipality’s heavy fleet ($1,816,293) and road infrastructure ($461,571).
Council quickly approved the move to issue the new debt, with Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen noting that the debt was for projects that have been completed.
“All these things were approved in the previous budget. We’re not approving new debentures prior to receiving the (2024) budget,” he said.
Anna McCarthy, director of finance/treasurer, provided an overall debt update in a report.
Grey Highlands has a maximum debt payment capacity (which is the total amount for annual repayments the municipality is permitted to have) of $4,515,410 (25 per cent of its own source revenues). It has used $2,038,090 (which is the amount it will pay in principal and interest payments in 2024) of that capacity or 45 per cent. The municipality has $2,477,320 in remaining debt capacity. The municipality has borrowed a total of just over $18.6 million for various projects over the years.
The total debt the municipality has is split between repayments that are supported by the tax levy and repayments that are supported by the user pay water/sewage systems.
“We still have room in that borrowing capacity to continue to do business,” said Coun. Tom Allwood.
