By Mark Squibb / July 7, 2023
In today’s world of inflation and post-pandemic prices, you often hear of projects going overbudget.
It’s much less common to hear of projects coming in under budget, but that’s exactly what happened in Bay Bulls.
During the June public meeting, council approved a release of $35,465 in funds earmarked for upgrades to Cemetery West Road and Station Road.
“Those are funds that were allocated to that project, but we came in under budget, so what we’re doing is formalizing, and sending in documentation to the Gas Tax Secretariat, to free up those funds,” explained Town Manager Jennifer Aspell.
Council, with the exception of Mayor Keith O’Driscoll and councillor Jason Sullivan, who were both absent from the meeting and thus did not vote on the matter, unanimously approved the motion.
Since 2019, the provincial government has allocated $437,116 in gas tax funds for the Town of Bay Bulls, based on a 2016 population of 1,500.
The former council had earmarked $152,678 of that money for upgrades to Winnonish Drive, but the new council unanimously voted to cancel those upgrades during the October meeting of last year. Instead, council applied to complete a 450-metre section of the walking trail around Long Pond at a total project cost of $95,508, plus HST, as per project estimates.
