During last night's meeting of Swift Current city council, there was a quick update on a story Swift Current Online reported on back in July, as the city's proposal to purchase more infrastructure from SaskPower took another step forward.

anding that will eventually see 400 customers and a large plot of currently unserviced land come into the city's purview.

The city has a long history with such purchases, beginning in 1958 with the first purchase of infrastructure from SaskPower and being expanded twice; first in 1986 and again in 1989.  This will mark the third time that the city has brought more electrical infrastructure into its direct control; a move that it says has, and will continue to, benefit them more than simply allowing SaskPower to manage the infrastructure themselves as a number of other cities choose.

Expanding is not cheap, however, and this particular franchise expansion will cost roughly $14.8 million dollars in new debt that council hopes will mostly be paid for by the 400 new customers who suddenly find themselves paying bills to the city instead of to SaskPower, and by any future expansion into the area as the city grows and more subscribers come online.

This next step; taken last night, was in regard to that funding, as any request for additional debt from the city requires a borrowing bylaw under the Cities Act.  Essentially, before any financial institutions can be approached to take on more debt, the city has to create a bylaw in order to do so, and inform the public of their intention, which is what last night's council was all about.

Council approved the motion unanimously, though not without some discussion.

Once the debt is paid off, the expanded franchise area should add roughly $1-2 million more dollars to the city's coffers.