The draft budget, which has the lowest property-tax increase in five years, includes a heavy emphasis on capital works, transportation and streamlining the development process for green projects.
Around $340 million will be spent on 150 road, cycling and other infrastructure projects throughout the city, including a long-discussed Coventry Road overpass to link the VIA Rail station to Ottawa's baseball stadium. The city will chip in $7.7 million for the project.
The city plans to borrow $125 million for the projects, saying that historically low interest rates means it will save $12.9 million when compared with the original development plan.
Officials slotted $1.5 million for economic development, particularly "improved coordination of economic development services and resources."
Both the city and OCRI are currently undertaking a new direction in economic development, dubbed Invest Ottawa, to include elements such as events as well as attracting and building key industries of aerospace, defence, life sciences and others in Ottawa.
Some development projects will be accelerated through a "green express lane" that puts a dedicated team in place for environmentally sensitive projects, the city stated.
Qualifications would include elements such as energy efficiency and minimizing construction waste. No price was assigned to this initiative in a city press release.
Transit fares will increase 2.5 per cent and $5.5 million will be allocated to alleviate overcrowding on Transitway routes, implement smart cards and provide real-time locations of buses to riders.
The budget further includes a $59 million O-Train expansion that has already partially gone ahead with a $34-million purchase of six Alston trains.
Once the line starts running in 2014, O-Trains would arrive every eight minutes instead of the current 15, preparing the transit system for changes ahead of the light rail implementation around 2018, the city stated.
The city also eliminated 47 full-time equivalent positions, freeing up $3.4 million annually.
The budget will be finalized Nov. 30 following input from businesses, residents, council standing committees and city boards.
.jpg)
