The Draft 2017 Annual Report and Financial Statements for the City of Kimberley was received by Council at their last regular meeting and is available for view at kimberley.ca
Council will be discussing the annual report at their regular meeting of Council on Monday, June 25, which members of the public are welcome to attend.
The report summarizes the progress that is being made towards delivering on Council’s strategic priorities.
CAO Scott Sommerville says that in terms of financial management, the city is learning to operate within the means of its taxpayers ability to pay.
” The City’s financial position continues to get healthier, demonstrating positive net assets rather than debt for the first time in years,” the report says. “The City owes $9.8M in debt, and debts on water and sewer are set to drop off in 2021.”
” The City is making steady progress towards renewing infrastructure. Between 2016 and 2018, the infrastructure deficit (backlog) has been
reduced by $5.6M (from $73.2M to $67.6M), $3.9M in the Roadway System, $1.0M in the Water System, and $0.7M in the Wastewater System.”
With an election coming this fall, the newly elected Council will work with staff to develop a vision for their four year term. Strategic planning sessions will begin after the election.
In his statement in the report, Chief Financial Officer Jim Hendricks agreed that the City’s financial position improved in 2017.
Here are some of the stats in the report:
2017 saw $2.9 million in grants received by the City and $13.8 million in new construction, a 26 per cent increase from 2016.
The property tax increase was held to 2.01 per cent and there was a 1 per cent decrease in expenses.
The infrastructure deficit was reduced from $73.3 million to $67.6 million.
Transit service saw a 23 per cent increase in riders to 21,815.
2017 also saw the diversion of Conference Centre operations to Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, which reduced the operating subsidy by $100,000. There were 7,900 delegate nights at the Conference Centre, up 12 per cent from the previous year.
However, the plan to attract new tax dollars by attracting new light industrial business has not seen any success so far. There were no new taxes from light industrial.
