MD OF BIGHORN – About $1.8 million will be drawn from municipal reserves to fund a shortfall for necessary upgrades to the Exshaw lagoon.
The work is to replace aging infrastructure, add an additional cell for treatment improvements, a flow meter to measure flows and increase the height of the berm to make operating the lagoon more efficient.
MD of Bighorn Reeve Lisa Rosvold said it was a “big ask,” but that “it’s only going to get more expensive if we don’t proceed."
“I feel like this has been part of a conversation I’ve been included in for a number of years,” she said. “It’s something we hoped to do long ago and the longer we wait the more it’s costing us. It’s hard to approve a $1.8 million increase to a budget, but I do understand where the increases are coming from because everything’s got more expensive.”
A staff report indicated the lagoon upgrades budgeted at $3.77 million increased to $5.254 million, while the exfiltration cell upgrade was budgeted at $210,000 and is estimated at $465,000. The flow meter was budgeted at $50,000 and is estimated to cost $127,000.
In the report, Vicki Moses, the MD’s infrastructure services engineer, said the budget estimate is several years old, but that escalating construction costs also played a factor in the increase. The construction is anticipated to begin in spring or summer of 2025.
“It’s a reality of the current conditions,” she said.
Bill Luka, Bighorn’s director of operational services, said the $3.77million is a grant that’s been approved since 2010. He noted there’s two stages that will ultimately address future development needs, lifecycle work and operational components.
“It does factor in future development, but it’s not the final project,” he said. “The stage two lagoon upgrades, which are quite a way away, are more expensive. We have to keep upgrading the lagoon as we go.”
Moses’ report noted Alberta Environment and Protected Areas approved the construction of the upgraded system in August. Three tender results were received.
“The lagoon upgrades portion of the project has had grant funding in place since 2011,” the report stated. “Typically, any additional costs for a grant-funded project are the responsibility of the municipality.
“However, the government of Alberta grants program administrator has advised that the MD can submit a letter to the minister requesting additional funding now that tenders have been received and it is known that project costs are higher than estimated.”
A grant application for the exfiltration cell upgrade has also been made, which if successful, would cover up to $348,997. The municipality won't know about the grant until spring or summer 2025.
The funding will come from the Exshaw water and wastewater reserve, which had a 2023 year-end balance of about $1 million.
Harvie Heights and Dead Man’s Flats water and wastewater reserves are also at a negative balance. Municipal staff will be returning to council in 2025 to look at potentially increasing reserve levels.
Shaina Kelly, Bighorn’s CAO, said council could run a reserve deficit. The cost of providing these services are put onto municipal government by higher levels of government, meaning the municipality ends up bearing the infrastructure deficits that come with that.
“Having these reserve accounts go occasionally into negative highlights the importance of looking at amortization in the future and how starting to recover the costs of amortization is still not enough to cover the costs of your infrastructure," Kelly said.
Kelly said as the municipality continues to grow, improvements will be needed for infrastructure. She said planning on how best to collect that will need to take place as “benefitting users on the utilities are the ones that will be paying over time.”
She emphasized a review will need to take place to not “cause considerable shock to the users.”
Rosvold said with development planned in Exshaw through the Exshaw Mountain Gateway project and other lands on the market, the project will aim to support growth and lifecycle work.
“I’m reluctantly happy to support this, but I’m also hoping that this is supporting any development that will be happening in Exshaw in the coming years,” Rosvold said.
