ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: May 1, 1996
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of Finance
SUBJECT: 1996 Supplementary Capital Budget
RECOMMENDATION
THAT the civic projects, identified as "Recommended" in Appendix
1 and totalling $828,000, be approved, with funding from the 1996
Supplementary Capital Budget.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENT
The General Manager of Corporate Services RECOMMENDS approval of
the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
On January 26, 1995, Council approved a grant to the Stanley Theatre
Restoration Project with funding to be provided in 1995 and 1996 from
the Cultural Facilities section of the Basic Capital Budget ($50,000)
and from the Supplementary Capital Budget ($50,000).
On March 28, 1995, Council approved funding for the replacement of
Police handguns at a cost of $1.3 million to funded in 1995, 1996 and
1997 from Supplementary Capital. The 1995 allocation was $427,000 and
an additional $450,000 is recommended in 1996, leaving $423,000 to be
provided in 1997.
On May 18, 1995, when considering the 1995 Supplementary Capital
Budget, Council approved funding of $200,000 for a Direct Data Entry
system at the Police Department with funding of $83,000 from the 1995
and $117,000 from the 1996 Supplementary Capital Budgets.
On July 25, 1995, Council approved the installation of a Voice Mail
system at the Police Department to provide better community access to
the force. Funding of $150,000 was provided from the Police Building
renovation capital budget and $50,000 was approved in advance of the
1996 Supplementary Capital Budget.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to review the requests for funding from
the 1995 Supplementary Capital Budget and to forward the recommended
projects to Council for approval.
BACKGROUND
Capital Plans normally provide for two types of funding.
- Basic capital provides for those projects and on-going
programs that can be planned in advance.
- Supplementary Capital deals with expenditures of a capital
nature that arise during the three year duration of a
Capital Plan. Supplementary Capital has also been utilized
as a source of funding for several on-going capital
maintenance programs, including the roof replacement and
asbestos control programs.
The 1994-1996 Capital Plan includes $4,680,000 in funding from the
Operating Budget for allocation to Supplementary Capital needs. The
final portion of that funding, totalling $1,590,000 is to be allocated
as part of the 1996 Supplementary Capital Budget.
DISCUSSION
The following table summarizes the approved funding level for
Supplementary Capital, the Council approvals in advance from this
funding and the balance available for allocation to new funding
requests in 1996:
1996 Supplementary Capital $1,590,000
Advance Approvals
Police Handgun Replacement $450,000
Police - Voice Mail System 50,000
Police - Direct Data Entry Program 117,000
QETheatre - Sewer Separation 120,000
Grant-Stanley Theatre Renovation 25,000 762,000
Balance Available $ 828,000
Appendix 1 summarizes the submissions to the 1996 Supplementary
Capital Budget which total $5.8 million. Details of these requests
are included in Appendix 3* entitled "Submissions to the 1996
Supplementary Capital Budget".
Appendix 1 also includes the recommendations of the staff review
committee regarding the Supplementary Capital requests. Each
submission has been reviewed and priorities set based on Council
policy and previous decisions, and on a judgment of City needs. It is
noted that several projects have been referred to funding sources
outside the Supplementary Capital Budget, including reference to the
1997-1999 Capital Plan review process.
Appendix 2 includes the comments of the review committee on the
projects submitted to the Supplementary Capital Budget.
FUNDING FROM OTHER SOURCES
Several of the projects submitted to the Supplementary Capital Budget
have been referred to other funding sources or for consideration in
the 1997-1999 Capital Plan process. In addition, some of the smaller
maintenance related requests are more appropriately accommodated
within existing capital or operating budgets.
Item B-5, City Square Local Area Network, involving a funding request
for $109,000, is recommended to receive $60,800 from Supplementary
Capital, with that amount to be supplemented with funding from the
following sources:
Property Endowment Fund $12,500
Demolition Fee Reserve $15,600
Solid Waste Capital Reserve $ 5,100
As these sources fund City operations that will benefit from
installation of local area network extension to City Square, it is
recommended that they provide a share of the funding for the
installation.
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APPENDIX 1 - On file in the City Clerk's Office.
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APPENDIX 2
Page 1 of 4
COMMENTS ON THE SUBMISSIONS TO THE
1996 SUPPLEMENTARY CAPITAL BUDGET
Details of the submissions to the 1996 Supplementary Capital Budget
are included in this Appendix. The following comments highlight the
issues dealt with by the review group related to the recommended
funding levels.
Many of the submissions to the Supplementary Capital Budget were
beyond the mandate of this budget, relating instead to the need for
capital improvements to City facilities which are more appropriately
dealt with as part of the 1997-1999 Capital Plan. These included the
following items:
A-3 City Hall Security
A-5 Civic Building Chiller Replacement Program
A-6 City Hall HVAC Upgrade
A-7 City Hall Fire Alarm Panel
A-8 Civic Building Elevator Modernization
A-10 Civic Building Non-Structural Seismic Upgrading
B-2 Fire Department Disaster Preparedness Plan
C-2 Archives/Museum HVAC System Upgrade
While these are not appropriate for the Supplementary Capital Budget,
they do give an indication of those items that require consideration
under the highest priority category in the Capital Planning process,
being the ongoing maintenance of the City s existing assets.
In addition, there were several items for which funding is already
available or can be provided from in the Basic Capital Budget or from
the Operating Budget:
A-9 City Hall Repainting
A-13 Coroner s Court Building - Exterior Upgrading
A-14 Orpheum Theatre First Aid Room
A-15 Firehall #1 Lecture Hall Washroom
A-18 Dual Gender Firehall Program
C-1 Museum/Planetarium Security Access System
The following comments pertain to funding recommendations for other
items in the Supplementary Capital Budget.
Civic Use Buildings
A-1 Civic Buildings-Roofing Program $205,000
In the mid-1980s, Council began a roof replacement program
funded from Supplementary Capital. The recommended funding
will continue that program by dealing with the highest priority
replacements identified by Building Management. Two
replacements are recommended from this year s list:
Vancouver Art Gallery - Basement Corridor $ 20,000
Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Low Roof 185,000
A-2 Asbestos Program $150,000
Ongoing funding for the Asbestos Program is provided in both
the Building Management and Park Board Operating Budgets. The
1996 program will deal will provide for the highest priority
abatement and removal projects in a variety of civic
facilities.
A-4 VanCity Building Boiler Replacement $0
As the VanCity Building is an asset of the Property Endowment
Fund, funding for replacement of the boiler will be funded from
the PEF. However, no funding is being recommended for 1996 as
this replacement is not considered to be a priority at this
time.
A-11 QETheatre - Fire Alarm Upgrading $107,200
Phase 1 of the multi-phase fire alarm system upgrading was
begun in 1993 with subsequent phases put on hold pending
resolution of anticipated changes to the lobby and other areas
of the building. With the approval for some of these
renovations to proceed, it is necessary to complete the
upgrading project. The funding recommended for 1996 will
provide for the next phase of the project, with the balance of
the requirement to be recommended in 1997.
A-12 St. Roch Shelter - Endwall Glazing $0
Under a cost sharing arrangement with the federal government,
Council provided $200,000 to upgrade the St. Roch Shelter. An
additional $80,000 was provided in 1995 to provide physical
integration of the shelter with the Maritime Museum. This
request will complete the upgrading of the shelter by replacing
the endwall glazing to stop condensation and leaking problems.
The review group concluded that while this work is desirable,
it was not a priority at this time and should be deferred for
consideration in 1997.
A-17 City Hall - 5th Floor Renovation $0
The review group acknowledged the advantages of upgrading the
5th floor to provide more efficient working space and room to
accommodate relocated employees, however, it was concluded that
this work could not be considered a priority compared to other
needs.
Other
B-1 Fire Department - Fuel Tank Removal $50,000
Several of the fire department halls have underground fuel
storage tanks that are used to fuel fire apparatus. Tanks at
two halls have been taken out of service because they were
found to be leaking. The recommended funding will allow for
removal of these tanks, any necessary remediation costs and the
installation of an above ground replacement tank at Hall #7.
B-3 Fire Department Wide Area Network $62,000
B-4 East Wing Local Area Network 35,000
B-5 City Square Local Area Network 60,800
Increasingly, the ability to access data communication networks
is a key determinant of the City s ability to provide service
to the public. Moreover, with the change from an environment
in which applications run on a mainframe computer to one where
applications take advantage of client-server technology, access
to local area networks for all parts of the organization will
be required. The recommended approvals for computer networking
will assist in achieving these needs by providing the back-bone
to which users can connect.
The Fire Department Wide Area Network (B-3) will build upon the
local area network installed at Hall #1 in 1995. The funding
will provide for the next phase of development which is the
extension of the LAN to the Fire Prevention Office on West
Broadway. Subsequent requests to be submitted in future years
will provide for a programmed expansion of the LAN to fire
halls.
The East Wing Local Area Network (B-4) serves Planning and
parts of the Permits & Licenses Department. The recommended
expenditures will expand the LAN back-bone in the East Wing to
accommodate additional access.
Item B-5 involves expenditures totalling approximately
$109,000, which provides the capability to link all computers
in City Square to the Wide Area Network. Funding for computer
replacements requested in the submission are not recommended.
Implicit in the recommendation is approval of funding from the
Property Endowment Fund ($12,500), the Demolition Fee Reserve
($15,600) and the Solid Waste Capital Reserve ($5,100),
provided on the same basis as the support these sources provide
for City operations at City Square.
B-6 City Hall - East Wing Power Supply $148,000
The provision of electrical power in the East Wing has been a
problem for many years because of the demands created by the
increased utilization of electronic equipment including
computer terminals, micro-computers and printers. The
recommended funding will address this issue by installation of
new transformers, electrical panels and circuit breakers. The
balance of the requested funding represented a duplication with
work proposed as part of the P&L Imaging Project and item B-4
above.
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