The City of St. John’s has finalized where it will be spending its capital works budget this year.

The capital city brought down its 2026 budget a couple of months ago, and now knows exactly where its infrastructure component will go.

A total of $34-million or about 10 per cent of the overall budget will be spent on roads, sidewalks, parks, buildings, community groups, vehicles and equipment, and water and sewer projects.

Close to $12-million goes to expanding the vehicle and equipment fleet for services such as snow clearing, $11-million for grind and patch road repair, $6-million to maintain the water system, and $1.6-million on parks and open spaces projects.

$1-million will go towards environmental projects such as tree planting and EV charging stations, and $500,000 is allocated for grants to community groups.

Specific projects include the retrofit of the bridge at the Duck Pond in Bowring Park, and installing traffic lights at the intersection of Military Road and Bonaventure Avenue by the Basilica.

Finance lead says emphasis on maintenance of vehicle and equipment fleet

Councillor Ron Ellsworth, who is the lead on finance, says coming out of COVID, about 60 per cent of the city’s vehicle and equipment fleet was out of service for various reasons. As part of the 5-year plan, they now keep detailed records on every piece regarding its history, in particular the maintenance log.

Currently, only about five per cent of the fleet is off the road “which tells you already that the plan is working. The amount of snow that we have had recently has certainly challenged the equipment, which is a good indication that we’re in a better place today than we were three or four years ago with an aging fleet,” says Ellsworth.

“It’s not fair to ask our staff to meet certain service levels without giving them the tools to do the job.”