Coun. Jim Cheverie wants to know more about the state of the Town of Bonnyville's financial reserves in the wake of George Cuff's report on the City of Cold Lake.
What concerns Cheverie is page 164 of Cuff's report, which included data on reserve levels and debt of area municipalities.
The report pegs Bonnyville's municipal reserve balance per capita as being only 39 per cent of the same figure for Cold Lake, a municipality whose own council has seriously questioned Cold Lake's own long-term viability.
Cuff's report found Cold Lake to have $1,340 per capita in reserve for each of its citizens as of Dec. 31, 2008. The corresponding figure for Bonnyville was $524 per capita.
Bonnyville's per capita debt of $655 per person, however, was also only about 42 per cent of Cold Lake's per capita debt of $1,557, according to Cuff's report.
“I was surprised we were way below half of what the City of Cold Lake was,” Cheverie told his council colleagues last week, referring to reserve levels.
Cheverie was looking for new data on Bonnyville's finances at council's May 25 meeting, but none was forthcoming at the meeting from town administration, though Mayor Ernie Isley said following the meeting that the town's 2009 audited financial statements are expected soon.
Chief administrative officer Mark Power told Cheverie financial statements capture reserve levels at a specific moment in time. He said Bonnyville's reserves probably didn't go up in 2009.
Council has approved the 2010 capital and operating budgets for the town, but summaries of those documents didn't include a forecast for where reserves would end 2009 or where they would be going in 2010.
Municipal financial statements for the last calendar year would normally have to be approved under Section 276 of the Municipal Government Act by May 1 of this year, but municipalities have been given until June 25 to file their 2009 statements by the province.
The town's auditor, Renee Senko of Wilde & Company Chartered Accountants, said last week Bonnyville's statements would be filed “on time on that basis.”
Whether those statements will include a look at the Centennial Centre's financial picture as of the end of 2009 remains to be seen.
Coun. Ray Prevost told council last week the audit for the Centennial Centre — which is jointly owned by the town and MD of Bonnyville — may not be done at the end of June. He said the centre's board is hoping to have the audit complete by the end of June or early July.
“We're hoping to have our (annual general meeting) prior to both councils taking their summer break,” Prevost added.
While Prevost was non-committal on when statements would be ready for sure, he town council concert revenue for the venue has been strong as of late. He also said after the meeting that the centre's overall financial performance had improved, though he couldn't say its 2009 books wouldn't produce a deficit beyond what was already budgeted for by the town and MD.
The wait for 2009 financial numbers from the centre didn't slow the MD's approval of its financial statements, which were accepted by MD council in April before the normal May 1 deadline.
Isley said last week that he doesn't expect there will be big changes in Bonnyville's reserves when new numbers are released.
He said he last heard Bonnyville's debt was just under $3 million and that reserves were slightly over that amount. That would put Bonnyville's reserves per capita at over $508, though that's based on the population Cuff used for Bonnyville in his report, which was 5,896. The last town census pegged Bonnyville's population at 6,470.
As for 2010, Isley doesn't see the town's financial resources being substantially depleted.
“I don't think there's any intention of drawing down the reserves substantially,” he said, noting they may dip temporarily until new borrowing kicks in to fund the new RCMP detachment building. On the other hand, the mayor said he also doesn't foresee “any significant increases this year,” in reserve levels.
The town's reserves per capita ended 2008 at about 15.5 per cent of the corresponding figure for the cash-rich MD, while its debt per capita was more than 50 per cent higher than the MD's per capita debt, according to Cuff's report.
While the report addressed Cold Lake's viability as a municipality — Cuff maintained Cold Lake was viable — the report didn't comment on Bonnyville's status.
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