Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township homeowners will pay about $71.66 more for municipal taxes this year. 

But it is not clear whether a project to repair failing pipes at the Moore Sports Plex swimming pool will be completed this year.

Council finalized the $81,620,340 operating and capital budget Monday, making one change suggested by Mayor Jeff Agar. He asked council to approve a motion which would take $575,000 out of a surplus reserve to cover the cost of rural road resurfacing. 

“My intent is simply to adjust the funding source so the project can move forward without placing additional pressure on the taxpayers,” Agar said.

The move lowered a 7.7 per cent municipal tax increase which would have seen an additional $116 for every $100,000 of residential assessed value to brought down to $71.66.

During the Jan. 15 deliberations, Councillor Holly Foster pushed to have two big projects at the Moore Sports Plex pool completed at one time. Township staff found out in late December the iron pipes in the change rooms were in crticial condition and needed replacement.

St. Clair had already obtained a grant from the provincial government for a $1.5 million to upgrade the pool area. That project is expected to close the pool for up to six months. Foster suggested if both projects were not done at the same time, the pool would be out of commission two years in a row.

Feb. 2, she again tried to move money around to make both of the projects happen.

“The floor in the health club is cracked and heaving. They can’t even get a camera down there… There’s only one to two showers working. The other one is closed because of the drain clogged and the floor being ruined…there’s a portion of the shower wall in the ladies change room that is bulging out… It was determined in critical condition,” she said.

But the majority of councillors were not willing to commit to both projects in the budget. Councillor Pat Brown suggested staff go ahead with the work on the pool, since it is ready, and then see if there is any money left over from the provincial grant to continue on with the change room. 

Brown said council should “review it after the tenders come back to see, see where we are financially.”

While the Director Community Services, Kendall Lindsay, did not oppose the move, he warned the change room project will be much bigger than just replacing the cast iron pipes. Once work begins, the entire area has to meet provincial accessibility standards.

“That’s where a lot of the huge dollars are coming, is to make the change rooms accessible,” he said suggesting the project could be done “surgically” replacing the pipes to avoid spending the extra cash to bring the change rooms up to accessible standards.