Tuesday’s budget contains no money for new road or school projects, which means no money for Ray Gibbon Drive or a desired P3 school in Erin Ridge North.
Premier Ed Stelmach has promised to pay for any costs associated with upgrading the road to highway status. Mayor Nolan Crouse is awaiting a refund on the first two stages so the city can build the third leg.
No money in the budget means no road construction this year. The city wasn’t expecting any funding.
“Sooner or later the province is going to have to come up with that cash,” Crouse said. “It didn’t surprise me for this year but it’s going to get pretty darn disappointing pretty soon.”
On the school front, there’s no new capital funding for schools, a disappointing turn for the local Protestant board, which has been trying to land a P3 school for the past two years.
Also disappointing to the board is no change in the basic education grant even though teachers stand to gain about a three per cent salary increase this year.
“It’s very distressing,” said St. Albert Protestant school board chair Morag Pansegrau. “It’s going to put schools in a very difficult position.”
The budget confirmed that St. Albert will receive about $12 million from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, which was expected based on an update provided in November. This is, however, $8 million less than was originally projected when the program began in 2007.
Province-wide, MSI funding will reach $826 million, a large jump from last year but just 59 per cent of the original estimate of $1.4 billion.
Morinville will receive $1.4 million.
