A few late bills from the 2011 fiscal year bit into the city’s surplus, but St. Albert will still finish the year $549,000 in the black, the standing committee on finance heard Monday.
The committee, consisting of all members of council, chaired by Coun. Cathy Heron, voted to place $500,000 in the city’s stabilization reserve, as recommended by administration. The remaining $49,000 will be left available in case audits turn up any discrepancies in the 2011 books.
A $472,000 surplus in pay-as-you-go funding was also transferred to the capital funding reserve. Roughly $33.8 million in municipal and utility capital projects will also be carried forward to 2012.
While acting chief financial officer Ed Kaemingh had originally reported a surplus of $645,000 in February, he explained that a few late invoices came in that ate into the amount. The resulting surplus represents a 0.45 per cent variance from a $122-million budget.
Per city policy, the committee could have used the surplus in one of four different ways — stash it in reserves, pay down debt, use it for a one-time expenditure or use it to bring down property taxes. Kaemingh said the money would be best used in the city’s stabilization reserve, which saw a few withdrawals in 2011. With the new money, the reserve will have a balance of approximately $2 million.
There were no one-time expenses for which the money could be used, Kaemingh explained. The city’s debt does not allow early repayment without penalties and applying it to reduce the tax increase for the coming year from 2.8 per cent would have chopped it only 0.65 percentage points or roughly $18 per household.
When combined with the education tax levy increase of 9.5 per cent, the weighted average will work out to a 4.2-per-cent increase in property taxes.
“I get concerned when I see those tied together,” said Coun. Len Bracko, referring to the education levy. “This is not ours. That’s completely separate. If some see that, they think its municipal.”
The surplus was a result of $539,000 in recovered costs, insurance claims of $317,000 and approximately $960,000 in other “favourable variances” against larger expenses such as $504,000 for snow removal, $282,000 for photo radar, $251,000 for licences and permits and $238,000 in municipal enforcement fines.
Of 47 completed capital projects, 16 were finished on or close to budget, 24 were completed under budget for a total savings of $581,000 and seven projects came in over budget totalling $109,000. The project with the largest overage was Fowler Track that required an extra $53,000.
“Seven projects were over budget. There’s a story behind every one,” said acting city manager Chris Jardine. “The tender might have been higher than we thought or we saw something that we weren’t anticipating.”
“There should be a lot of credit for keeping it that close,” Mayor Nolan Crouse said.
The committee also voted to carry forward 68 municipal projects and 25 utility projects that were not completed in 2011, worth $44.8 million, to 2012.
