Council approves streetlight upgrades in budget
It didn’t find its way into the budget last year, but residents and businesses in North Kamloops will get the street lighting upgrades they’ve been waiting on for years.
During morning budget discussions on Tuesday, Feb. 15, city council approved $320,000 worth of items from the public-works department, including $250,000 for the streetlight upgrades to Tranquille Road.
The lighting project is expected to cost $1.5 million over six years.
Coun. John De Cicco said the project is a long overdue and will encourage investment on the North Shore.
A design of the project will likely be complete by the summer.
Other items approved in the budget were $40,000 for painting upgrades at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, $30,000 each for new lockers and a mobile stairwell at the Tournament Capital Centre and $75,000 to replace a retaining wall at the Old Courthouse.
However, council said no to spending the full $175,000 on stair aids at the Interior Savings Centre, but instead approved $25,000 for a stair-aid pilot project.
It also passed on approving $225,000 for a spray park in Westsyde.
The changes brought the property tax increase to 3.3 per cent as of KTW press deadline, but the figure didn’t include the operating side of supplementary items.
Before council got down to cutting, city staff presented preliminary surplus numbers, totalling $1.5 million.
Much of the surplus came from extra investment income and from unspent winter-road maintenance budget. That chopped the tax rate increase to 3.7 per cent from slightly more than four per cent.
Log on to kamloopsthisweek.com for updates to the city’s budget deliberations.
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