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The proposed neighbourhood of 7,000 residents is planned for a triangular patch of land that lies mostly in the Rural Municipality of Corman Park.

SPEND TO SAVE

City hall is proposing to spend tens of millions of dollars in order to save tens of millions of dollars.

City council will decide Monday whether to allocate an extra $12.3 million to its enterprise resource planning project, known as Fusion.

Enterprise resource planning describes a process that integrates various systems into one interface. In the city’s case, systems range from customer relations to accounting.

The entire cost of the project is estimated at $27.9 million, about two-thirds of which would come from the federal government; most of the rest would come from reserve funds.

It’s supposed to take three years to implement and is part of an effort to improve service to residents.

A city report estimates savings of more than $40 million in the first six years after the new system is introduced and ongoing savings of $9.7 million per year starting in 2027.

Additional operating costs of $11.6 million over five years are expected due to the need to operate redundant systems and processes during implementation, the report adds.

The initiative comes with some risk, so the budget includes funding for a project auditor for oversight.

“(These)projects are known to be high risk with a potential for cost and schedule overruns and/or negative impacts to operational services,” the report says.