St. Albert city council's budget is set to approve millions of dollars worth of new projects and positions.
Here are some of the positions and projects that will likely get final approval on Dec. 15 when the budget comes back to council.
New positions
While a couple of the proposed new positions saw some debate, council only agreed to scrap a human resources position dedicated to talent attraction and retention.
New positions include additional staff for the city's communications and design team, a cultural research co-ordinator, a fund development associate for cultural services, a social master plan co-ordinator, IT positions, an assistant store supervisor for Starbucks, some new public works staff, recreation and parks staff and others.
Almost all the new positions will be funded out of assessment revenue that will be collected by the city for the first time in 2015.
Fire and police projects
There wasn't any public debate about paying $105,000 in 2015 toward a system to pre-empt traffic signals for emergency vehicles, to put in $350,000 to acquire land for Fire Station No. 4 nor build an addition to Fire Station No. 2 for $281,400.
Police services also didn't draw much discussion from council, with approximately $740,000 put aside to add nine RCMP officers over the next three years and a municipal enforcement officer in 2015.
Parks
Construction in Lacombe Park is slated to cost just less than $1-million in 2015 and $700,000 in 2016.
Park development in North Ridge is set to cost $500,000 and includes an outdoor ice rink, picnic tables and other amenities. There's another $500,000 in the budget for addressing drainage in Lions Park.
Design for Riel Park Phase 5 and an amenities building for the park will take place, with the former budgeted for $275,000 and the latter $215,000. Construction would be in 2016 for more than $1-million each.
Roadwork
The St. Anne Street realignment is expected to begin to the tune of $4.18 million in 2015. The St. Albert Trail median and boulevard enhancement project will enter a third phase estimated to cost a little less than $1-million.
There's also millions in the city's repair and maintenance budget for annual roadwork such as asphalt overlay for arterials, collector road reconstruction and sidewalks.
Transit
Transit waiting shelters will be built sooner than planned and constructed in 2015 for $60,600. They'd been planned for 2016.
New buses to accommodate St. Albert's growth are budgeted to cost $3.2 million in 2015, with a lifecycle replacement program for old buses expected to cost $2.5 million.
Culture
The biggest project in the culture department is the second phase of work on the heritage sites, which is expected to cost roughly $1.5 million in 2015.
