IT may not be sexy, but companies that hauled garbage, paved roads, laid turf and fixed sewer lines were among those that made good money doing business with local governments last year.
The three municipalities on the North Shore spent almost $270 million on suppliers last year, up from $251 million in 2010.
Details of how that money was spent is contained in reports local governments file each year under the Financial Information Act, listing all amounts over $25,000.
As usual, keeping the lights on at town hall and the wheels of government itself running meant racking up some hefty bills.
The District of West Vancouver, for instance, spent $1.26 million on Hydro, almost $3 million on fuel and over $651,000 on phone companies. The City of North Vancouver spent $663,000 on property insurance and paid over $9.2 million to the Greater Vancouver sewer and water authorities for provision of those services.
The District of North Vancouver paid $383,000 to keep the street and traffic lights on and almost $246,000 to insure its vehicles.
As the largest municipality on the North Shore, the District of North Vancouver also spent the most on suppliers last year, forking over more than $150 million for everything from the nearly $11 million RCMP contract to engineering consultants and computer software licences.
Among some of the bigger ticket items, the district paid $4.38 million to B.A. Blacktop for road paving.
The district paid $435,000 to AstroTurf West Distributors and $1.75 million to Wilco Civil Inc. for work on the Windsor turf field.
Some of the money paid to Wilco also went to construction on the Spirit Trail. Capilano Highway Services was also paid $742,500 for Spirit Trail construction, while Mission Contractors was paid almost $529,000 for trail work.
Other payments included about $245,000 to Delcan for work on Capilano Road widening and culvert replacement and $309,000 to Lehigh Hanson Materials for work to repair a barge ramp plus a supply of road aggregate. The district also paid $306,000 to Andrew Sheret for water main pipes and fittings and $227,000 to Mainroad Maintenance Products for road salt.
The municipality also spent $3 million to buy three residential properties on Hunter Street.
Over in West Vancouver, the municipality spent $66 million on suppliers and contractors last year, including work on roads, sewers and fields.
West Vancouver paid BA Blacktop $4.2 million for paving and Ansan Industries $502,000 for flagging last year.
Mar-Tech Underground Services was paid $771,000 and PW Trenchless Construction was paid over $1 million for work on the Ambleside sewer rehabilitation project.
The Ambleside hockey pitch was another project that resulted in big contracts. AstroTurf West Distributors was paid almost $641,000 for work on that, while Cedar Crest Lands was paid almost $1.34 million. ConVerge Construction was paid $1 million for work on the Ambleside fieldhouse and landscaping.
Emterra Environmental was paid $1.42 million to haul away garbage and yard trimmings.
Carver Construction garnered almost $1.7 million for work on the Montizambert water treatment plant.
In the City of North Vancouver, the smallest municipal government on the North Shore, taxpayers still spent $53 million on suppliers last year.
Among the larger projects, the city spent $5.8 million with Dominion Fairmile Construction, the general contractor on the new city hall. About $305,000 also went to T.G. Fire Protection Ltd for a city hall sprinkler retrofit.
The city paid Surespan Construction $2.4 million for work on the Harbourside west overpass and Bewicke bridge replacement while Neelco Builders were paid over $263,000 as general contractors for the Cotton Road bridge resurfacing.
Golder Associates was paid almost $348,000 for work on the city works yard and former shipyards site. Mondiale Development got almost $289,00 for environmental remediation work on Lot 3 in the former shipyards site.
The municipality also paid DFI Corporation $250,000 as general contactor on the citys sewer relining project.
The city paid BA Blacktop $1.75 million for repaving on Fell and Chesterfield avenues and the Marine Drive bike lane.
The city also paid $571,000 to municipal lawyers Bull Housser & Tupper for legal work last year.
Follow us on Twitter: @NorthShoreNews
