Charlottetown to fix up streets 'worst first'

Charlottetown city council in included an extra $1.7 million for street resurfacing in its $14 million capital budget for 2017.

Council approved the $14 million capital budget at its meeting Tuesday evening.

Coun. Melissa Hilton, chair of the finance committee, said street resurfacing is a priority this year.

Nearly $4 million has been budgeted for street resurfacing, which includes $3.19 million in new funding, and nearly $800,000 carried over from the 2016 budget.

Hilton saidthe number of streets that will be resurfaced will depend on the length of the streets, and the severity of the disrepair.

"What we do is we rate the streets ... worst first," said Hilton.

"I know there's a number of streets throughout the city and everybody thinks their street is the worst. That's why we have our staff go out to rate them."

Hilton said staff will begin that process once the snow melts in the spring.

Building maintenance, other improvements

The capital budget also includes $1.8 million for work on municipal buildings.

"We have a number of issues in some of our city buildings. For example, right here in city hall we have a heating system that we're trying to deal with," said Hilton.

Other budget items include increased funding for Parks Canada to improve playground equipment, funding for improvements at the Bell Aliant Centre, and improvements to street lighting.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |One more time! Storm warning in effect for P.E.I.
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |'I have a couple of good years': Charlottetown man adjusts to life with ALS