The City of Castlegar released its 2016 annual report and financial statements at Monday’s council meeting.
Michael Murphy, CPA, CA with independent auditor BDO Canada LLP presented the company’s audit findings to council.
The audit documents state,”We did not detect any fraudulent or illegal activities, or material misstatements resulting from fraudulent or illegal activities during our audit.”
In his summary of the city’s finances, Murphy stated that there is “very little financing, which is quite unique among the municipalities that we audit. There is very little debt related to your capital assets.”
As of Dec. 31, 2016 the city has $5,384,730 in net financial assets, down by just over one million from 2015. Castlegar finance director Andre Buss explained that the change was due to the acquisition of tangible capital assets, which would include items like the new fire truck.
The city has an accumulated surplus of $77,957,072 which is up by just over one million from 2015.
Murphy also presented a comparison of how Castlegar is measuring up to other municipalities. He explained that Nelson’s numbers include Nelson Hydro, which skews the numbers for comparison.
Castlegar has about $5.4 million in net financial assets and Nelson has $9 million, while Trail has a net debt of $3.8 million and Kimberley has a net debt of $2.9 million.
Tangible capital asset numbers are: Castlegar $70.8 million, Nelson $152.8 million, Trail $88 million and Kimberley $93.7 million.
Castlegar had the smallest accumulated surplus of the comparison cities at $78 million, Nelson had $163.4 million, Trail had $86.6 million and Kimberley had $91.7 million.
Castlegar had the lowest taxes of the comparison cities at $8.6 million, Nelson had $9.4 million, Trail had $14.2 million and Kimberley had $10.5 million.
“In taxes you are clearly lower … on a per capita basis,” said Murphy.
As far as reserves, Nelson has the most at $20 million, but Murphy explained $13 million of that is for Nelson Hydro. Castlegar has $6.4 million in reserves and Kimberley has a similar amount, but Trail’s reserves are much lower.
Coun. Dhillon asked Murphy if there was a good number to aim for with reserves.
“It is very complex, when you look at your capital asset management — do you have infrastructure deficit or is your infrastructure fairly healthy,” responded Murphy. “The other challenge with reserves is that if you have too much in reserves, you are basically having the taxpayers of today fund the taxpayers of tomorrow, there is also that with borrowing and debt. It is quite a big juggling act, so you have to look at it in part and parcel with your capital management plan.”