Millions of dollars will be spent on the activity centre, library and pedestrian underpass under the town of Jasper’s proposed 2010 capital budget.

Council received its first glimpse at the $16 million capital budget on Dec. 15, as town manager George Krefting presented administration’s proposal.

The proposal includes $2.1 million for the pedestrian underpass, which will be spent from three sources: The Jasper/Banff grant, the New Deal for municipalities funding and Alberta Infrastructure.

The activity centre will see $5.2 million in spending in 2010, which will come from Building Canada, $1 million in loans and general reserves.

The library will see $4.5 million in funding, coming from Building Canada, Municipal Sustainability Initiative Funding (MSI) and fund-raising efforts.

Another $2.3 million will be spent on the transfer station composting facility. That will come from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) funding and a $300,000 grant.

Several smaller projects could also see funds come through this year, such as $294,000 for public washrooms, $150,000 for a garbage truck and a mobile equipment truck for the deputy fire chief (that was purchased in 2009).

The new plan also includes $250,000 for a centennial park facility and $633,000 for the boulevard replacement program.

Despite the planned spending, uncertainty surrounding MSI funding has many council members nervous. Mayor Richard Ireland said the provincial government has told municipalities they will receive ‘every cent promised, eventually.’ However there’s no timeline connected to the funding, which makes planning difficult. For example, Jasper was told they would receive $2.34 million in 2010 in MSI funding. However the recession has caused the provincial government to withhold some of that money, and the town is now anticipating receiving $1.7 million.

On top of grant funding, the town will take $836,741 from reserve funds and borrow another $3 million for the activity centre, composting facility and bike share program. The town will then have about $2.1 million in reserves.

The town pays about $600,000 in principle on its loans per year.

Krefting offered a breakdown of capital projects undertaken by the municipality over the past 10 years. The original 10 year capital plan called for $34.3 million in spending. Of that money, $14 million was expected to come from grants, and $20 million was to come from operations (taxes, etc.). However the town ended up spending much more than that.

About $56 million was spent on capital projects between 2002 and 2009. Of that, $36 million came from grant funding, and $19 million came from operations.

“We spent more than anticipated, but the contributions from local sources are as proposed,” Krefting said.

The new plan will see $38.7 million spent on capital projects between 2010 and 2015, so 2010 will be the biggest spending year in the five-year budget.

Under the plan, the town has $7 million of debt, and is still able to borrow another $10 million under their current rating.

Krefting said Jasper’s revenues aren’t as high as other communities, but its infrastructure debt is much lower.

The capital budget will return to council on January 5.