By Cheryl Jahn

Capital Budget Approved

Capital projects approved

Jan 6, 2020 | 11:08 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The capital budget for the coming year has been passed by Council, but not without some questions.

The capital budget this year includes 65 different projects worth a total of $30 million. That includes $5.56 million for road rehabilitation, just over $1 million for new and improved sidewalks and $1.25 million for trail rehabilitation.

But the budget did not pass without discussion.

The single line item that generated the greatest amount of discussion was $547,000 for a new home for the Little Prince train which is housed in a Quonset hut beside Exploration Place. The discussion was launched by Councillor Kyle Sampson who questioned the price tag.

“I struggle to spend five times that,” he said, referring to the average cost of roughly $150,000 for a new Quonset hut.

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The City owns the Little Prince and Exploration Place maintains it. The latter has been asking for years for a replacement home. But Sampson even questioned whether the City should continue to own that train and, if so, whether the relationship with Exploration Place and perhaps the Regional District of Fraser Fort George needs to be revisited.

It came out during the discussions that funding options are being looked at and, in the words of City Manager Kathleen Soltis “nothing” in that project will move forward without Council knowing and the amount will not exceed the amount identified in the budget.

In the end, the $547,000 remained on the books with the remaining capital projects. Council has also asked Administration to come back with a report on the further of that train.