County Council to Resume Budget Deliberations in January
County Council approved 2023 budgets for its individual departments Wednesday night but is holding off approving the entire 2023 Budget until the Essex County Library board submits an updated funding request that accounts for a recent pay equity decision.
Council will resume deliberations on January 18 once it has the updated information from the library. Should the library budget remain unchanged and assuming no other changes, the 2023 Budget would require a tax rate increase of 3.81 per cent.
Excluding the proposed library budget, which totals $6,029,600, the net operating requirement for the County of Essex in 2023 is $117,569,630.
Standard and Poor’s Affirms County’s AAA credit rating
Standard and Poor’s has affirmed the County’s credit rating at AAA, with a stable outlook.
“The AAA rating signifies that the County of Essex credit status is of a high quality and low risk. This translates into more attractive interest rates and lower interest costs should the County and/or the local municipalities decide to issue debt,” said a Council report. “The stable outlook rating reflects the expectation that the County of Essex’s credit rating quality should remain consistent in the coming years.”
Standard and Poor’s recognized the County for having “prudent financial management, a well-balanced and generally supportive relationship with the Province of Ontario, robust after-capital surpluses and an extremely strong liquidity position,” said the report.
Council Approves 2023 Road Rehabilitation Program
County Council has approved a 2023 Road Rehabilitation Program that includes more than $18 million for road projects and nearly $3 million for paved shoulder projects.
These projects have been approved in advance of full Budget approval to allow for early tendering, which provides the County the opportunity to take advantage of off-season prices while developing and coordinating work schedules with less conflict, and undertaking bridge construction outside of environmental restriction windows.
Road rehabilitation projects that have been approved total $18,630,300 and include:
- 13 road rehabilitation projects
- 2 bridge rehabilitation projects
- 2 bridge engineering assignments
- 3 culvert replacement projects
- 3 culvert engineering assignments
Bridge Rehabilitation projects:
- River Canard Bridge on County Road 9 – $3,875,000
- River Canard Bridge on County Road 11 – $1,285,000
Culvert Rehabilitation Projects:
- Wiper Drain on County Road 37 – $1,100,000
- Tom Wright Drain on County Road 50 – $1,105,000
- Long Marsh Drain on County Road 18 – $1,134,000
Road Rehabilitation Projects
- County Road 8 from County Road 27 to 450 m west of Graham Side Road – $985,000
- County Road 20 from Ferriss Road to Iler Road – $1,155,000
- County Road 25 from County Road 42 to Highway 401 – $1,235,000
- County Road 27 from Highway 3 to MN#81 – $220,000
- County Road 42 from County Road 35 to County Road 37 – $1,225,000
- County Road 46 from County Road 23 to Lakeshore Road 203 – $730,000
- County Road 50 from Wright Road to Dahinda Road – $925,000
- County Road 3 from County Road 20 to County Road 8 – $345,000
- County Road 34 from County Road 45 to Road 3 – $490,000
- County Road 35 from Lakeshore Road 305 to Highway 401 – $300,000
- County Road 37 from County Road 14 to Mersea Road 7 – $520,000
- County Road 27 from MN#81 to County Road 34 – $225,000
- County Road 31 from County Road 2 to County Road 42 – $585,000
County Council adopted its Paved Shoulder program in 2016. The program aligns paved shoulder projects with road rehabilitation projects as an efficient and cost-effective way of building out the County Wide Active Transportation System.
Paved shoulder projects stretching 14 km and totaling $2.8 million have been approved for 2023:
- 1.6 km on County Road 3 from County Road 20 to County Road 8
- 3.3 km on County Road 8 from County Road 27 to 450 metres west of Graham Side Road
- 4 km on County Road 25 from County Road 42 to Highway 401
- 2.7 km on County Road 31 from County Road 2 to MN# 921
- 0.8 km on County Road 34 from County Road 45 to Road 3
- 1.6 km on County Road 50 from Wright Road to Dahinda Drive.
General Masking Policy for County Staff Rescinded
County Council voted to rescind a masking policy that required County of Essex employees to wear a mask in the Civic Centre and other County buildings.
Masking policies specific to Sun Parlor Long-Term Care home remain in place as well as those governing the interactions between Paramedics and patients.
The County continues to be a mask friendly environment and is supportive of anyone who makes the personal choice to wear a mask.