City council adopted the capital budget for next year at its meeting Monday.

The required capital budget bylaw received unanimous support. It calls for expenditures of $57.1 million.

Of the total, though, $42.2 million is dependent on external funding approval, primarily from the Yukon and federal governments.

A total of $15.6 million in expenditures has been confirmed for 2023.

Among the confirmed expenditures is $4 million for additional heavy equipment, needed in part to service and expanding city and assist with addressing the increased snowfall the city has seen over the last two winters.

Tracy Allen, the city’s director of operations and infrastructure, said to increase capacity in services, the city needs the new equipment.

The existing fleet is getting old, she said, noting crews run it 20 hours a day when they have to, and that’s hard on the equipment.

The budget calls for $3.6 million for new business and technology systems, including $86,250 for software licensing renewals.

There is $230,000 to replace the irrigation system at Rotary Peace Park.

The budget identifies a new firehall for Whistle Bend at a cost of $5.75 million to be spent in 2025 and 2026.

Among the projects awaiting external funding approval is the Hillcrest reconstruction project. The budget calls for expenditures of $7 million next year, and $15 million over the subsequent years out to 2026.

Mayor Laura Cabott said city administration put a lot of effort into preparing the budget, but so did council in setting the spending priorities.

“I think this is a budget that comes from a lot of work from all of us in the city,” she said.

Cabott said the budget focuses on providing core services. It’s not a flashy budget, she said.

The mayor said she hopes taxpayers take comfort knowing the budget focuses on providing the essentials.

There is a lot in the budget dedicated to maintaining city infrastructure, purchasing new equipment, improving the transportation network, including the network for active transportation, she said.

Coun. Kirk Cameron said he was quite pleased with the budget, and was impressed how it came together as the first capital budget this council was solely responsible for developing with administration.

While Coun. Dan Boyd also expressed support for the capital budget, he did note there is $42 million in work that still needs to be financed by the senior governments.

Some of that work is critical, he said, adding the city could be faced with having to borrow money to finance some of those projects.