Sewer should be No. 1 priority, Summerside mayor says

Summerside council is split on how to spend an unexpected cash windfall from the province.

The P.E.I. government gave the city $280,000 to help cover this year's plowing costs, given the snowy winter.

City council has been debating for more than a month how to spend the unaniticipated money.

• Summerside budget: No property tax increase, electricity rates, water and sewer rates to rise

Half the councillors and the mayor want the money to go to five or six water and sewer projects.

'Where do you draw the line?'

The other half want the money to go to items that failed to get funding in the budget.

But Mayor Bill Martin said that essentially opens the door to doing the 2017 budget all over again.

When you flush the toilet you want that stuff going somewhere.- Summerside Mayor Bill Martin

"That's a challenge," he said. "If Councillor A wants a new playground, and Councillor B wants a salt shed, and Councillor C wants pedestrian traffic lights, and Councillor D wants more money for ditch-infilling, where do you draw the line?"

Martin said the city needs a sewer upgrade, a new catch basin, and work on the lift station work. It also needs to replace some of its pipes that are more than 100 years old.

The total cost of wastewater projects will be $550,000, so the city would have to borrow the rest of the money.

Meeting May 15

But they are projects that need to be done, Martin said.

"These are projects that aren't necessarily pretty. They're below ground in many instances. But when you flush the toilet you want that stuff going somewhere."

Council is expected to make the final decision on the money during its meeting May 15.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | P.E.I. students show 'excellent' projects at heritage fair
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | P.E.I. gets $100K to boost social lives of seniors