The District of 100 Mile House council recently passed four Budget 2012 amendments because there were significant financial changes during the approved general operating or capital projects.
District administrator Roy Scott explains it is something municipal governments go through if there are major changes in the financial plans during the year. When the district's contribution changes, it has to go before council in an open meeting for endorsement, he says, adding the additional money comes out of reserves.
There were four items on the schedule put before council, including two – replacement of filter sand in the water treatment plant and the purchase of a vehicle for the fire department – that were previously approved by council.
The vehicle purchase came about when it was determined it would be better in the long run to buy the truck with $33,000 from equipment reserve instead of entering a lease agreement.
As for changing out the filtering sand at the water treatment plant, Scott notes they were initially only going to do one of the three cells but decided to replace all three "and then everything is up to snuff ... and then everything would be operating more efficiently."
Worksafe BC ordered the district to implement a confined space plan to protect employees when they did any below-surface work, including water treatment cell, lift stations and manholes.
This required the purchase of safety equipment and staff training to accommodate the order. The district used $10,500 from the equipment reserve to fulfil this requirement.
The final item on the schedule required endorsement for additional work at the rapid infiltration Basin project. This involved providing access road improvements, additional geotechnical work, a standby pump in the lift station, investigation of outflow lines in Stephenson Lake and associated engineering costs.
This increased the capital project costs from $552,000 to $748,000, and the $226,000 difference was secured from the Community Works Reserve.
The schedule was passed unanimously.