The municipal council of the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion gave a notice of motion on Monday, September 21st to authorize the loan by-law for the construction of part of the Pole.
For several years now, the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion has wanted to bring together the library, the town hall and multifunctional rooms within the same building, as well as the development of a public square on the site. Now the project materializes more. It is even possible to confirm that a lot, located on rue Émile-Bouchard, near the Centre Multisports and Vaudreuil train station, will accommodate the construction.
This major project will have a construction budget of $ 32 million. A subsidy of over 4.8 million has already been announced by the governments of Quebec and Canada for the construction of the new library. It is also expected that a portion of the Federal Gas Tax Fund will be used for the public square costs.
For the mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Guy Pilon, it is essential to focus on respecting the amounts provided for construction. “We established a budget that took into account several risk factors including an overheating of the market and a possible increase in certain materials, as we are currently seeing with lumber, explains Mr. Pilon. We compared with recent constructions like the Pierrefonds and Drummondville libraries and we are comparable or below what they paid per square meter.”
In order to avoid surcharges, the city administration retained the services of a specialized firm. “The Altus Group, a firm specializing in construction economics was involved in validating the estimates. I put a lot of emphasis on the budget, because I know how important it is to our citizens and rest assured that city council and the administration share the same concern”, said Mayor Guy Pilon.
Loan By-Law No. 1755 provides for an expenditure of approximately $ 39.1 million. This amount includes the construction costs of the library, the town hall, the public square as well as the financing costs, the costs related to the quality control, the applicable taxes and a reserve of risks. The bill of $ 7.1 million is added to the $ 32 million construction project.
Impact on the tax bill
The financial structure of the project provides for a sharing of funding between the loan, financial assistance from the provincial and federal governments and municipal surpluses. To this end, the municipal administration has been working for several years to properly supervise the use of surpluses and thus reduce the impact on the tax bill.
Speaking of impact, it will be around $ 70 per year over 30 years for an average property valued at $ 324,400. In addition, this amount of $ 70 includes the risk reserve. As the name suggests, this is a reserve that may not need to be spent. In this case, the tax impact would be considerably less. This fiscal impact will be felt gradually from the year 2022 until the year 2024.
“We want to offer a unique living environment to our citizens. The Pole is located near the station and the Centre Multisports. The public square is a place of meetings and gatherings. Eventually an aquatic complex will be added. This is a unifying project that will allow us to offer a multitude of services to our citizens. And, with regard to the town hall, finally we will no longer be tenants! In rental costs alone, we will save the equivalent of $ 4.3 million over 30 years. Vaudreuil-Dorion is a city in excellent financial health”, concludes Mayor Pilon.
At the beginning of 2021, the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion will launch a call for tenders to award the contract for the execution of the work. All visual perspectives will be unveiled during the same period in order to allow citizens to follow the development of the construction of the municipal Pole. Work will begin in spring 2021 and should end in fall 2022.
