Further to my post of December 19, administration's recommendations on what we need to spend on our Capital Budget.
http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2014/12/crowsnest-pass-capital-budget-2015.html
$14,143,500 is a very large number and a lot of is subject to grants, but here is the breakdown of the revenue sources.
Grant AMWWP $3,327,500
Grant MSI Capital $4,376,000
Grant FGTF/BMTG $1,300,000
Grant ACP $114,000
Longterm Financing-Equipment $1,310,000
Longterm Financing-Frank WWTP $1,672,500
Operating Budget $1,347,500
Reserves-Equip + Electrical $696,000
Total $14,143,500
Showing posts with label Reserves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reserves. Show all posts
Monday, December 29, 2014
Monday, April 7, 2014
Crowsnest Pass Budget down to the wire.
First reading of the mill rate bylaw was passed on April 1, second
and third reading are scheduled for April 15.
Highlights:
Salaries and wages increased by 3% (collective agreement
with CUPE effective Jan 1st) additional cost of $164,000.
Municipal Insurance costs increased by $31,000..
Property tax base dropped by 2.1%
General Municipal Taxation for 2014 will be $6,921,689
versus $6,681,111 for 2013
We will be spending $633,700 on capital, which will include
the following:
Two pickups for operations $68,000
Two wheel loaders $375,000
Wastewater Inspection camera $11,700
Renovations Coleman Seniors Centre $19,000
Swimming Pool Conceptual Design $15,000
Albert Stella Memorial Arena Renovations Scope $35,000
Dressing Room Addition Roof Sports Complex $50,000
Server Upgrades and desk computer replacements $60,000
Reserves will be increased this year by $290,500 versus
$240,666 in 2013
Franchise Fees will not increase this year.
Utilities will increase by 4.6%
Legal Fees in 2013 were budgeted at $15,000 actual cost was
$156,431 budget for 2014 is $140,000.
Ski Hill manager eliminated savings of $61,000 a year also
revenue for 2014 was decreased by $58,000, 2013 budget was $252,710 with actual
revenue of $187,418.
Peace Officer reduced to one position effective May 1st,
administration informed council that most communities only have one position
for a population of 5500.
Ag Services grants decreased by $30,000.
Upgrades to municipal utilities:
$30,000 to the Electrical system
$24,000 on the water system
$58,000 on the wastewater system
$12,000 for garbage collection bins and Eco recycling
Economic Development will bring in revenue of $183,000 from
various conditional grants.
Personnel requirements:
2013 budget allowed for 54 full time positions, 3319 hours
of overtime, and 45,214 hours of casual employment.
2014 budget allows for 54.75 full time positions, 2858 hours
of overtime, and 37,650 hours of casual employment.
Note: The town rounder position was counted in the casual hours
last year, it is now a full time position, overtime hours have decreased by 461
hours and casual hours are reduced by 5499 hours after allowing for the town
rounder hours from last year.
Debt:
The municipality will assume debt of $1,672,500 to construct
a new Clarifier at the Frank wastewater plant subject to approval of $3,327,500
in grant funding from the province.
The municipality will assume debt of $343,000 to upgrade the
Sentinel Water Treatment plant, administration as proposed that this debt, will
be financed by the owners of the properties in the Sentinel area under a Local Improvement
program (Property owners will get to vote on this).
The payment on the $1,672,500 over 10 years would be
$190,200 per year.
2014 we will pay $480,000 on debt payments, and roughly the
same amount next year which will almost clear up all existing debt.
Keep in mind the mill rate can be amended by a majority vote
of council on either second or third reading.
Well deserved Kudo's to the CAO, the administration staff we do have, and the hourly employee's who put a lot of effort into getting this budget in place.
Personally I would have liked to have dug a lot deeper into this budget and the various areas that drive the numbers but unfortunately not having a finance officer in place since November and no Public Works Director for almost the same time frame made things very difficult.
I do believe that the 2015 budget process will be much more efficient than what we just went through.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
The $50,000 issue that just will not go away, is it even legal?
I received the following comments from one of my readers who is questioning if the $50,000 taken out of land reserves to pay the Vachon group so that "they" own the rights to the Best Western name is even legal under the MGA.
If it is legal does this open up the possibility that anybody trying to start a business in the Pass could approach council for initial funding? If council was in agreement could that funding then be provided from municipal reserves?
If it is legal does this open up the possibility that anybody trying to start a business in the Pass could approach council for initial funding? If council was in agreement could that funding then be provided from municipal reserves?
Unapproved Council Minutes state Best Western/ Vachon funds came from a Municipal Land Reserve Account - see their website or image at bottom of this note.
Section 671 (2) of the MGA 671 states municipal reserves can only be used for specific items, not hotels or economic development - see excerpt.
MGA Section 671 (4) states municipal reserve monies must be separately accounted for -- see excerpt.
With the following information from the MGA
Division 9
Use and Disposal of Reserve Land
Use and Disposal of Reserve Land
671(1) Subject to section 676(1), environmental reserve must be left in its natural state or be used as a public park.
(2) Municipal reserve, school reserve or municipal and school reserve may be used by a municipality or school board or by them jointly only for any or all of the following purposes:
(a) a public park;
(b) a public recreation area;
(c) school board purposes;
(d) to separate areas of land that are used for different purposes.
(2.1) Community services reserve may be used by a municipality for any or all of the following purposes:
(a) a public library;
(b) a police station, a fire station or an ambulance services facility, or a combination of them;
(c) a non‑profit day care facility;
(d) a non‑profit senior citizens facility;
(e) a non‑profit special needs facility;
(f) a municipal facility providing service directly to the public;
(g) affordable housing.
(3) Despite that land is designated as municipal reserve, school reserve or municipal and school reserve, the municipality and one or more school boards may enter into any agreement they consider necessary with respect to a use referred to in subsection (2) or for any matter related to the use.
(4) Money provided in place of municipal reserve, school reserve or municipal and school reserve and the interest earned on that money
(a) must be accounted for separately, and
(b) may be used only for any or all of the purposes referred to in subsection (2).
Friday, January 28, 2011
2011 Crowsnest Pass Budget, dollars and the wonderful things you can do with them.
Council this week looked for more clarification on a few issues, that they appear to be going around and around on.
Administration has given them the opportunity to have a 0% increase on the tax rate.
This is good in the sense that are taxes are high enough, I agree with Councilor Gallant that taxes are a deterrent to attracting people and businesses to the Pass.
Hard enough to say to a coal miner we want you to travel an extra hour a day to work, plus we will charge you an additional $700 a year in taxes to live here.
The bad side to this budget is there is absolutely no allowance for dollars into the reserves for a number of years those reserves were depleted to catch up on infrastructure projects. Two years ago the majority of council put an end to a proposed new shop in Coleman that started out at a cost of less than $400,000 and grew to $1,300,000 which would have virtually wiped out almost all the reserves we had.
Council last year budgeted for $450,000 to be put back into reserves which would have allowed them to grow for the first time in many years. To allow for that same amount to be put in reserves with the present proposed budget you would be looking at a 7% tax increase.
The issue of borrowing money to buy equipment, for the last six years council set aside $250,000 per year for purchasing new equipment. This year that $250,000 is not being put aside its being borrowed in addition to another $300,000 to buy a grader and a track hoe. If that $250,000 was put into the budget for equipment you would now be looking at a 4% tax increase, instead the municipality is taking on $550,000 of debt.
Number of councilors have raised the concern about the justification of the track hoe, administration stated that they are spending $10-13,000 a year to rent a machine. Those numbers by any financial formula do not justify borrowing $250,000 the saving will not even cover the payment on a machine, let alone depreciation.
The issue of hiring, one I struggled with personally for years. I agree with Councilor Saje do an organizational review before you hire more people. Much wiser approach than Councilor Mitchell standard position of “if administration feels we need these positions,then we should fill them”
Administration argues that they have to grow to find the inefficiencies in the organization, with positions being deleted down the road as attrition takes place.
Government positions seldom disappear once they are put in place, work is found to
justify them. In addition you run into labor relations issues with your employees, I have never yet heard of a CUPE local that stated we don’t need that position any more.
Water Meters are going to be sent to the purgatory known as further study.
Administration is also counting on the sale of municipal land to the tune of $125,000 to balance the budget, the current market is almost making the sale of land impossible unless you are prepared to give it away. Should the municipality do that with the taxpayers assets? Should they be in competition with private sellers forcing land values even lower?
Where will the process go from here? A number of councilors have already expressed the willingness to increase taxes by a smaller number than 5.3%.
They will chop at least a couple of the full time positions, placing those savings into reserves, they will increase taxes by 1-2% with the cash like wise going to reserves. The fiscally conservative councilors will get to vote against the increase, which will pass any way.
The track hoe will also go the same direction as the water meters, to be re evaluated when further inefficiencies are found.
Finally Councilor Saje raised the issue of the lack of dollars (zero) for the New Strategic Direction of council, I also have not heard of any dollars for marketing or promoting the community. Likewise for new recreation facilities, affordable housing the only reference that as been mentioned in that regard is Councilor’s Gail idea to put a tax on weekenders that own more than one home in the Pass, which some how will encourage those people to provide those home’s to lower income families.
Administration has given them the opportunity to have a 0% increase on the tax rate.
This is good in the sense that are taxes are high enough, I agree with Councilor Gallant that taxes are a deterrent to attracting people and businesses to the Pass.
Hard enough to say to a coal miner we want you to travel an extra hour a day to work, plus we will charge you an additional $700 a year in taxes to live here.
The bad side to this budget is there is absolutely no allowance for dollars into the reserves for a number of years those reserves were depleted to catch up on infrastructure projects. Two years ago the majority of council put an end to a proposed new shop in Coleman that started out at a cost of less than $400,000 and grew to $1,300,000 which would have virtually wiped out almost all the reserves we had.
Council last year budgeted for $450,000 to be put back into reserves which would have allowed them to grow for the first time in many years. To allow for that same amount to be put in reserves with the present proposed budget you would be looking at a 7% tax increase.
The issue of borrowing money to buy equipment, for the last six years council set aside $250,000 per year for purchasing new equipment. This year that $250,000 is not being put aside its being borrowed in addition to another $300,000 to buy a grader and a track hoe. If that $250,000 was put into the budget for equipment you would now be looking at a 4% tax increase, instead the municipality is taking on $550,000 of debt.
Number of councilors have raised the concern about the justification of the track hoe, administration stated that they are spending $10-13,000 a year to rent a machine. Those numbers by any financial formula do not justify borrowing $250,000 the saving will not even cover the payment on a machine, let alone depreciation.
The issue of hiring, one I struggled with personally for years. I agree with Councilor Saje do an organizational review before you hire more people. Much wiser approach than Councilor Mitchell standard position of “if administration feels we need these positions,then we should fill them”
Administration argues that they have to grow to find the inefficiencies in the organization, with positions being deleted down the road as attrition takes place.
Government positions seldom disappear once they are put in place, work is found to
justify them. In addition you run into labor relations issues with your employees, I have never yet heard of a CUPE local that stated we don’t need that position any more.
Water Meters are going to be sent to the purgatory known as further study.
Administration is also counting on the sale of municipal land to the tune of $125,000 to balance the budget, the current market is almost making the sale of land impossible unless you are prepared to give it away. Should the municipality do that with the taxpayers assets? Should they be in competition with private sellers forcing land values even lower?
Where will the process go from here? A number of councilors have already expressed the willingness to increase taxes by a smaller number than 5.3%.
They will chop at least a couple of the full time positions, placing those savings into reserves, they will increase taxes by 1-2% with the cash like wise going to reserves. The fiscally conservative councilors will get to vote against the increase, which will pass any way.
The track hoe will also go the same direction as the water meters, to be re evaluated when further inefficiencies are found.
Finally Councilor Saje raised the issue of the lack of dollars (zero) for the New Strategic Direction of council, I also have not heard of any dollars for marketing or promoting the community. Likewise for new recreation facilities, affordable housing the only reference that as been mentioned in that regard is Councilor’s Gail idea to put a tax on weekenders that own more than one home in the Pass, which some how will encourage those people to provide those home’s to lower income families.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Crowsnest Pass 2010 Mill Rate/Budget passes second Reading
Tuesday Night April 6th the Municipal Council passed the first two readings of the 2010 Mill rate bylaw. It should have gone to third reading but Mayor Irwin with the support of Councilors Mitchell and Taje refused to allow that vote to take place so it will come up again on April 20th for third reading.
The Budget which drives the mill rate was based on a maximum increase of 3% in revenue. Something that council laid out as an expectation of our administration right from the beginning of the budgeting process.
The municipality of Crowsnest Pass as seen its reserves dwindle over the last ten years from a level of $4 million to $600,000 by the end of this fiscal year. Why because we have done so much infrastructure work. The problem now is this year we are taking $500,000 plus out of reserves we can no longer do that. Well we could for one more year but then our reserves would be completely deleted we can not allow that we must build those reserves back up.
That leads to the process that council/administration have gone through for the last couple of months we have pushed administration very hard to cut every corner possible to produce a surplus that could go back into our municipal reserves and start rebuilding them.
Administration did that to a point they came back with a surplus of $215,000, where the area of contention arose was over what some of council considered was a further opportunity to reduce expenditures by addressing requests for new positions.
Which consisted of the following:
Additional Sewer Plant Operator cost of $94,614
Part time Position for the Human Resources Department $25,625
Linesman $85,500
Two Casual employees for Public Works $52,900
The status of these positions have been raised by council a number of times and of course administration did there best to justify the needs for such positions. The argument was made during the debate that the grasses in parks, the sweeping of streets would not occur. This of course is complete nonsense we are not laying anybody off, we are not eliminating any service.
The opportunity as been given to council to start rebuilding this municipalities finances we can choose on April 20th to do that or we can choice not to.
The Budget which drives the mill rate was based on a maximum increase of 3% in revenue. Something that council laid out as an expectation of our administration right from the beginning of the budgeting process.
The municipality of Crowsnest Pass as seen its reserves dwindle over the last ten years from a level of $4 million to $600,000 by the end of this fiscal year. Why because we have done so much infrastructure work. The problem now is this year we are taking $500,000 plus out of reserves we can no longer do that. Well we could for one more year but then our reserves would be completely deleted we can not allow that we must build those reserves back up.
That leads to the process that council/administration have gone through for the last couple of months we have pushed administration very hard to cut every corner possible to produce a surplus that could go back into our municipal reserves and start rebuilding them.
Administration did that to a point they came back with a surplus of $215,000, where the area of contention arose was over what some of council considered was a further opportunity to reduce expenditures by addressing requests for new positions.
Which consisted of the following:
Additional Sewer Plant Operator cost of $94,614
Part time Position for the Human Resources Department $25,625
Linesman $85,500
Two Casual employees for Public Works $52,900
The status of these positions have been raised by council a number of times and of course administration did there best to justify the needs for such positions. The argument was made during the debate that the grasses in parks, the sweeping of streets would not occur. This of course is complete nonsense we are not laying anybody off, we are not eliminating any service.
The opportunity as been given to council to start rebuilding this municipalities finances we can choose on April 20th to do that or we can choice not to.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Alive and well in the Crowsnest Pass
Well I have not posted in the last month, but of course that does not mean things have not been happening. Below is a list of issues that people have requested an update on over the last few weeks.
Council is working hard on a number of issues:
Budget was finalized back in December now all we have to do is set the mill rate which is coming to council on April 6th. Just to refresh every body's memory we had given direction to administration to bring back a budget with a maximum of a 3% tax increase.
We are anticipating a surplus the amount of which will be determined at the meeting of April 6th, in my opinion we need to start rebuilding our reserves which six years ago were sitting at almost $4 million, at the end of this fiscal year will be sitting at a little over $600,000 as I have argued a number of times that is to low.
The dollars were used to do a lot of infrastructure work over the last five years, but now is the time that we must start building those reserves back up.
In March we also began the process of reviewing our Community Standards Bylaw, council members provided their input on what they would like to see and a draft of a much stronger bylaw as been sent to our lawyers to make sure it conforms with provincial legislation.
On the meeting of April 6th there will also be a motion debated by council to demolish the Maple View Hall in Bellevue if we are going to be serious about cleaning up our community then the Municipality and its politicians needs to lead the way.
Crowsnest Centre we are being told by administration that the Municipality and LCC are close to having an agreement to relocate to the MDM, I am holding my breath with anticipation. After being told by so many people that the Consortium would never relocate. I am going to have to go back through my pile of newspaper clipping and look at all those headlines about the "death of education in the Crowsnest Pass"
Election its coming October 18th the opportunity to bring forth your name will be provided for anybody that wishes to participate in the democratic process. Rumours of all kinds of candidates names are flying around of course, some will be proved to be true some will not.
Council is working hard on a number of issues:
Budget was finalized back in December now all we have to do is set the mill rate which is coming to council on April 6th. Just to refresh every body's memory we had given direction to administration to bring back a budget with a maximum of a 3% tax increase.
We are anticipating a surplus the amount of which will be determined at the meeting of April 6th, in my opinion we need to start rebuilding our reserves which six years ago were sitting at almost $4 million, at the end of this fiscal year will be sitting at a little over $600,000 as I have argued a number of times that is to low.
The dollars were used to do a lot of infrastructure work over the last five years, but now is the time that we must start building those reserves back up.
In March we also began the process of reviewing our Community Standards Bylaw, council members provided their input on what they would like to see and a draft of a much stronger bylaw as been sent to our lawyers to make sure it conforms with provincial legislation.
On the meeting of April 6th there will also be a motion debated by council to demolish the Maple View Hall in Bellevue if we are going to be serious about cleaning up our community then the Municipality and its politicians needs to lead the way.
Crowsnest Centre we are being told by administration that the Municipality and LCC are close to having an agreement to relocate to the MDM, I am holding my breath with anticipation. After being told by so many people that the Consortium would never relocate. I am going to have to go back through my pile of newspaper clipping and look at all those headlines about the "death of education in the Crowsnest Pass"
Election its coming October 18th the opportunity to bring forth your name will be provided for anybody that wishes to participate in the democratic process. Rumours of all kinds of candidates names are flying around of course, some will be proved to be true some will not.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Municipal Finances in the Crowsnest Pass and Fiscal Responsibilty
We have a problem the state of our finances, some people think I speak too much about the Crowsnest Centre but to me the Crowsnest Centre is just a small reflection of the much larger problem we have in the Crowsnest Pass. That is understanding that government cannot do everything for everybody (whether that is individuals or groups) without there being a cost. Yes, crazy concept here we are talking about fiscal responsibility and making tough choices.
I will talk about where we came from and where we were at the end of 2007 and where we are going.
As recent as 2001 we has a Municipality had zero long-term debt at the end of 2007 we had $2,167,472 in debt and by the time we pay, it off with interest the real cost will be $2,739,249.
At the end of 2001, we had $2,963,317 in reserves broken down into the following categories:
......................................2001........................ 2007...
Administration .................$336,706................ $25,985
Emergency Services ............$200,079............... $31,376
Road ..............................$183,073................ $512,620
Sanitary ..........................$280,000 ...............$ 531
FCSS ..............................$4,911.....................$ 5,640
Land/Housing ...................$958,071 ................$493,165
Recreational Facilities ..........$310,519................ $142,582
Electrical Distribution ...........$172,000................ $2,210
Millrate Stabilization ............$517,958................ $327,392
Total...................................$2,963,317..............$1,541,501
At the end of 2007, we had reserves of $1,541,501 a drop of $1,421,816, that is significant but
it gets worse our 2008 budget allowed for expenditures of roughly $1.2 million that were funded from reserves, which is going to leave us in a position of having less than $400,000 in reserves. Believe it or not it could get even worse we agreed to purchase a new rescue truck for the sum of $213,000 to be paid for with the monies received from a GST refund, the Federal Government appealed that refund if we lose that appeal the rescue truck will be paid for out of reserves now will be down to less than $200,000.
Now comes the really tough part besides the fact that we will have nothing left in our reserves, to maintain the same level of expenditures in 2009 where do we get the $1.2 million from. Taxes this year increased on average 12% are our taxpayers willing to do that again? Alternatively, are they going to demand that we become fiscally responsible and make tough decisions? We did not get to where we are today by accident!
I will talk about where we came from and where we were at the end of 2007 and where we are going.
As recent as 2001 we has a Municipality had zero long-term debt at the end of 2007 we had $2,167,472 in debt and by the time we pay, it off with interest the real cost will be $2,739,249.
At the end of 2001, we had $2,963,317 in reserves broken down into the following categories:
......................................2001........................ 2007...
Administration .................$336,706................ $25,985
Emergency Services ............$200,079............... $31,376
Road ..............................$183,073................ $512,620
Sanitary ..........................$280,000 ...............$ 531
FCSS ..............................$4,911.....................$ 5,640
Land/Housing ...................$958,071 ................$493,165
Recreational Facilities ..........$310,519................ $142,582
Electrical Distribution ...........$172,000................ $2,210
Millrate Stabilization ............$517,958................ $327,392
Total...................................$2,963,317..............$1,541,501
At the end of 2007, we had reserves of $1,541,501 a drop of $1,421,816, that is significant but
it gets worse our 2008 budget allowed for expenditures of roughly $1.2 million that were funded from reserves, which is going to leave us in a position of having less than $400,000 in reserves. Believe it or not it could get even worse we agreed to purchase a new rescue truck for the sum of $213,000 to be paid for with the monies received from a GST refund, the Federal Government appealed that refund if we lose that appeal the rescue truck will be paid for out of reserves now will be down to less than $200,000.
Now comes the really tough part besides the fact that we will have nothing left in our reserves, to maintain the same level of expenditures in 2009 where do we get the $1.2 million from. Taxes this year increased on average 12% are our taxpayers willing to do that again? Alternatively, are they going to demand that we become fiscally responsible and make tough decisions? We did not get to where we are today by accident!
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