Judy Wasylycia-Leis would add $60 million to road construction budget

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This article was published 08/09/2014 (4053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Mayoral candidate Judy Wasylycia-Leis says she would fix roads, keep taxes affordable and take on the city of Winnipeg’s massive infrastructure deficit.

“Our roads are a mess and our streets need to be fixed,” she said at press conference at the home of a supporter on Rossmere Crescent where potholes are plentiful.

Under her proposed plan, Wasylycia-Leis would add another $60 million to the $340 million city council has already approved for road construction over the next four years. She’d do it with the same two-per-cent property tax increase approved by council by devoting more of the revenue to service an additional $16 million a year in borrowing and less to cash investment, she said.

“Our plan ensures these modest increases in financing are well below the guidelines set by bond-rating agencies to ensure there are no threats to the city’s cost of borrowing.”

Fixing roads now is what Winnipeggers want and need, she said. With historically low interest rates, it makes sense to borrow more money to fix them now rather than wait until they get worse, she said

“The infrastructure deficit was decades in the making and will take decades to fix,” she said. An estimated $1.7 billion is needed over the next 10 years to bring the city’s infrastructure up to standard.