According to the Town of Athabasca’s chief administrative officer Doug Topinka, the town is in a good financial situation after an audited financial statement for 2011 was provided.
“We have relatively very little debt,” Topinka said. “The debt limit shows that the town is capable of borrowing just more than $9 million. We’ve only got $1.1 million in debt.”
Total revenue for the town including, but not limited to, net municipal taxes, investment income, licenses and permits, local improvements, development levies, and franchise contracts totalled just more than $6 million last year.
By contrast, total expenditures which includes, but is not limited to, bylaw enforcement, roads, streets, walks and lighting, water supply and distribution, waste management, parks and recreation, culture, tourism, fire service and airport totals just more than $6.1 million.
There was one discrepancy of approximately $350,000 under wastewater treatment and disposal.
“The difference between the budgeted $332,000 and the audited amount of $689,000 is that we had budgeted the removal of the lagoons as a capital item, and when we talked to the auditors, it was decided to show it in operations,” explained Topinka.
In the financial report under other government transfers for capital, which refers to grants, there was a difference of $152,000 between the budget and audited amounts.
“We anticipated that we were going to get $4.6 million in grants and we got $3.2 million,” Topinka explained.
“Part of it is that the projects haven’t been completed. We usually wait until we have the final numbers, and then we receive the money.”
In the tangible capital assets, a difference of $3.7 million is reported between 2011 and 2010.
“You’ll see that tangible assets went up considerably last year from just under $18 million to $21 million, which reflects the capital works that’s being done,” Topinka said.
For consolidated expenses, the town was over budget by more than $300,000, which Topinka attributes to the cleaning of the lagoons.
