The Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee will ask council to approve its budget for 2016 including more than $7 million in operating costs and more than $26 million in cash flow that will likely be covered through the Disaster Recovery Program, which is a federally and provincially funded program administered through the province.
The funding ask will go to council on Tuesday, September 27, and covers the period of August 2 to December 31 of this year only and doesn’t cover the higher costs of recovery anticipated in 2017.
The exact breakdown of the request is to have $7,036,190 be allocated from the 2016 Municipal Operating Budget surplus, if it exists, to support the additional cash flow requirements related to operations. If the money can’t be found within the budget then if would be allocated from Emerging Issues Reserve or any other funding source as determined by the Municipality.
The WBRC also recommends to council that the RMWB provide $26,053,260 in cashflow requirements to the WBRC and RTF in advance of the formal submission to the Disaster Recovery Program for reimbursement and that the WBRC make a submission to the Government of Alberta for an advance in DRP funding.
Part of the reason the operating costs are so low is that staffing is being done in a hybrid model that borrows and shares resources with the regular staff of the RMWB.
The Recovery Task Force works collaboratively with other municipal departments and groups and the entire RMWB is involved in recovery efforts in some capacity.
Interim Recovery Team lead Dana Woodworth explained some groups are more heavily involved, like engineering, economic development, environmental services, land administration, to name a few.
He said these and other groups will have recovery related costs arising from joint and separate efforts. Some portion of the costs incurred by other groups will likely be eligible for coverage under the Disaster Recovery Program but Woodworth said to anticipate that only 80 per cent of what is requested will be approved.
Because of the integrated model of recovery wor, Woodworth said the Municipality’s recovery related costs will be greater than the amount budgeted within the Recovery Task Force.
Council will have the final say on these budgetary requests at the September 27 meeting.
A budget plan for 2017 operations and spending within the Recovery Task Force and WBRC will be tabled this fall.
