WESTLOCK – Westlock County ended 2022 with nearly a $1 million operating budget surplus, while spending only $445,947 out of the $5,430,529 budgeted for capital projects that includes the replacement of five graders tabbed at $2.375 million.
At their March 28 meeting, councillors spent over 40 minutes listening to finance director Peggy Hardinge, while also peppering her with questions, as she detailed the draft 2022 operating variance report, draft capital projects progress report and draft reserve summary — the presentation had initially been scheduled to go in-camera, but councillors asked for the discussion to stay public.
Ultimately, Hardinge said the reports were presented as information, which were accepted unanimously by council, as the county’s annual audit is currently underway and will be presented April 25, while on April 11 it’s expected that council will make a motion to direct the surplus to reserves.
“Overall, it’s good news other than some projects that didn’t get completed. And, pending the audit, we’re looking at this surplus to bring forward to council,” said Hardinge.
And while the draft document shows a $946,900 surplus, which represents 4.32 per cent of last year’s total operating budget, a portion, $131,133.31, has already been subtracted to cover a five-year-old claim to the Disaster Recovery Program (DRP) of Alberta leaving the excess at $815,766.69 — details on that were covered in the April 4 edition.
To achieve the surplus, the county generated $22,074,840 in revenue last year, while spending $21,127,940 — the municipality had initially budgeted for a break-even budget of $21,796,888 in revenue and expenses.
And while the county did end up in the black and was under budget in a variety of departments, Hardinge did note they spent $1,009,449 on fuel and oil in 2022, which was over budget $284,699.12, while utilities were over budget by $16,662 as they spent $211,166.49.
Status of reserves
The county’s operating reserves, which includes subcategories for general, financial stabilization, computer replacement, carry forward, gravel reclamation, road maintenance, emergency management, cemetery, economic development, and insurance, opened Jan. 1, 2022, at $7,091,856.56 and ended the year at $7,879,677.
Hardinge noted $299,067.67 that was transferred in came from the carry-forward reserve and represented projects that “expired or did not materialize.”
“For a variety of reasons, they didn’t take place. Generally speaking, this is due to turnover and organizational change for many of these things,” she explained. “I think it would be prudent for council to put it back into general reserve, then council can review and then make new decisions.”
“I did like the explanation of the turnover because I can see that. It’s clear on the impact that it has,” added reeve Christine Wiese.
CAO Tony Kulbisky said he went over the past project list with Hardinge and was “quite impressed with the amount of work she put into this to clean it up.” Coun. Stuart Fox-Robinson said he didn’t like having all the old projects just “sitting out there” and that “cleaning this up is the right thing to do.”
“This just cleans up all the old stuff and going forward, to steal a tagline from Scotiabank, you’re richer than you think,” said Kulbisky. “By cleaning this up, it uncommits those funds and puts it back into reserves, so council has the opportunity to reallocate accordingly going forward.”
Meanwhile the municipality’s capital reserves, which notes the subcategories general capital, capital work in progress, fire vehicle replacement, equipment replacement, building maintenance, municipal reserves, utilities, special levy, airport, industrial park, and land bank, started 2022 at $7,598,336.91 and ended at $8,240,582.52. In total for all county reserves, the municipality started 2022 with $14,690,193.58 and finished with $16,120,259.52.
Capital projects
The county budgeted $5,430,529 in capital projects for 2022, including $142,000 worth of carry-forward projects, but only spent $445,947, which is only 8.2 per cent of the budget and leaves $5,012,864 unspent.
Money spent included $182,130 toward the new $275,000 Clyde tender, $119,195 for a haul trailer, $98,303 for AFRRC radios, $28,282 to purchase a lot at the Westlock Municipal Airport, which was later sold for a profit, plus $15,436 for engineering work for the bridge program, which had $874,182 allocated, and $2,600 for renos at the main county building on a budget of $102,689.
By far the largest purchase that didn’t come to fruition was $2.375 million for five new graders, which remain in limbo due to delivery delays, while $500,000 for the “Highway 44 intersection improvement” project is noted as “in progress” and $50,000 for a valve replacement program has been moved to 2023. Meanwhile $696,820 for a “wellness and enhanced accessibility project” and $50,000 for Spruce Island Lake “enhancements” were cancelled as a federal grant was unsuccessful.
“And it’s not the intention to apply again as it was a one-time grant and it’s not been budgeted for in 2023,” said Hardinge regarding the two rec service projects.
The purchase of a $56,200 skid steer was also cancelled, while a $200,000 replacement gravel truck was deferred as it was deemed “cost prohibitive.”
