Raymond seeking funding approval for wastewater treatment system expansion

WWN PHOTO SUBMITTED BY THE TOWN OF RAYMOND

In 2018, the Town submitted a grant application to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) to pay for the needed expansion to our wastewater treatment lagoons. The project is estimated to cost $8 million dollars and the Town will pay $2,133,334 or 26%. In December 2019, the Province recommended our project to the Federal Government for approval and we anticipate learning in June 2020, if our project has been funded.

If our project receives federal support, the Town will have reduced our contribution to this project from $3,816,790 to $2,133,334 or by over 44%. If this occurs, the Town will advertise its intent to debenture the $2,133,334 and will repay the loan with the $300,000/year utility reserves we began collecting in 2019. This will mean that no additional taxes will need to be raised to fund this expansion.

The Town has sufficient room in our debt limit to undertake this project and will not require an increase in taxation to repay the debt.