Road Work is Expensive!

During and after the Town Hall meeting last Monday evening, the condition of Beiseker's streets has been mentioned several times.

We have a few critical streets here in the Village which need some serious work.  Here's the ones I can think of, in my personal order of priority -

• The mud bog at the corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street.
• The Beacon Heights Road from Beaver Place to the Public Works Yard.
• First Avenue from the Public Works Yard to the CN tracks.
• Fouth Avenue from Friendship Park to Seventh Street.
• Seventh Street from Fourth Avenue to First Avenue.
• Sixth Street from Third Avenue to Fourth Avenue.
• There are also some lane-ways which need work.

But, a huge amount of road work could mean increased property taxes.  I for one am opposed to such a property tax increase.

There are some provincial grants available.  The old grant for improving streets has a new name, but it's still offered.  There are also the Municipal Sustainability Grants available, although significantly reduced by the province.  We on council would like to continue our Main Street upgrade project with a big chunk of that money, but maybe we should be looking at that decision again.

There is also the option of naming a portion of a project a local improvement and assigning a frontage tax on those properties directly affected by street improvements.

What do you think? Let me know here; it's free.  I would like your input.