DRYDEN — City council has voted in favour of going forward with funding arrangements with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, but one councillor expressed
The City of Dryden’s latest regular council meeting saw a five-to-one vote in favour of executing the Nuclear Waste Management Organization Significant Neighbouring Community Funding Agreement for 2023 Learn More Program and a 2023-2024 Near-term Investment Funding Agreement.
Coun. Ritch Noel voted against the funding agreements saying, “that there is no such thing as free money.”
“I will say for sure that this funding by the NWMO and how gracious they are prepared to be with our city is something we desperately need, but we managed this many years without it,” Noel said.
Over the past few months, city staff and council have been putting together the city’s 2023 budget. During the regular council meeting, a resolution to set the final budget draft was deferred until a special council meeting in February.
At this point, Dryden ratepayers will see a 2.65 per cent rise in property taxes, which comes out to a $390,000 levy increase.
Coun. Bryan Tardiff had concerns with the $70,000 King Street Lot Trail Head Development Project. The lot is privately owned property and Council agreed that property owners should invest in developing that project rather than the city.
Treasurer Steven Lansdell-Roll also request that about $2 million be taken out of the budget draft, because the city's application for an active transportation grant for the Sandy Beach Road project was unsuccessful.
As it stands, the city’s net capital projects will cost 15.4 million, with $2.5 million coming out of reserve funds and $11.7 million from external grants to fund these capital projects.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization agreement for the Learn More program has a value of nearly $1.25 million and consists of funding for full-time and part-time municipal staff across the organization, including staff that would cover involvement with NWMO’s Adaptive Phases Management Initiative.
As part of being a significant neighbour, Dryden is tasked with ensuring that their residents are up-to-date with information regarding the proposed deep geological repository. The funding agreement for the Learn More Program ensures that ratepayers do not experience any financial burdens relating to the community being a significant neighbouring community.
“I just think of all the projects. All of the staff are currently funded because of this money that is giving us. Things like the youth centre that is being kept open because we have this funding, but there are a lot of other things that we absolutely have to reconsider. I think our budget in itself would have to get a huge facelift if we were to not accept this money and there are a lot of things we would like to accomplish. We know we are not in the greatest position with significantly less reserves than we should have for a city our size,” Coun. Catherine Kiewning said.
The near-term investment funding is valued at $2 million and may use that funding toward various capital projects to benefit the community.
"Like you say, there is no such thing as free money, but in this case, I think our administration and legal counsel are covering that we are not making a commitment," Tardiff said in reply to Noel. "I can understand where you are coming from, but there is an old saying that you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth in a case like that, and I’m going to go with that one.”
The funding agreements between the city and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization state that the agreements do not represent the city's support for the project or the site selection.
“I think it's beneficial for us to receive this funding to help us and our staff to work through some of the understanding of this project. I think we have an obligation to our community to work toward understanding and communicating. I noted that one of our responsibilities was to understand some of the concerns of the DGR and make those public and I think this funding can be utilized for that purpose as well. So, I think the funding can be used for all citizens of our community,” said Mayor Jack Harrison.
