(file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Operations expenses see increase

City reviews 2022 financial statements

Jul 19, 2023 | 1:47 PM

City of North Battleford administration presented the 2022 consolidated financial statements at this week’s council meeting that showed expenses up, largely due to increases to policing costs and water services repairs.

Director of Finance Margarita Pena noted in her report following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2022, city facilities were able to return to “normal” and operate without further interruptions.

“The city, like many other businesses and municipalities, experienced challenges due to inflation in 2022. Because of these increased costs, the budgeted amounts allocated to various departments were expensed earlier than anticipated,” she said. “Overall, the city worked diligently throughout 2022 to find efficiencies and remain within already-lean budgetary constraints while also maintaining key service levels within the city.”

In the financial statement of operations, the city’s overall revenues were $44,842,041, similar to 2021 at $44,012,671, and $2,399,274 higher than the 2022 budget of $42,442,767.

The city’s overall expenses were $44,712,089, higher compared to 2021 at $41,355,367, and $1,751,933 higher than the 2022 budget of $42,960,156. The main overages are due to higher policing costs for RCMP service contract cost increases, water services repairs, and higher costs for fuel, utilities, and equipment repairs.

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Pena noted the city’s depreciation budget has been included in the department reports.

Director of Operations Stewart Schafer said for water services expenses that came in about $800,000 over budget, a large cost for the city was for repairs following failures at the Water Treatment Plant #1 and the F.E. Holliday Water Treatment Plant #2.

The city dealt with 14 water main breaks in 2022, bringing up costs. Asphalt work is involved to replace sections of the roadways whenever the city has water main breaks. Schafer said asphalt prices increased significantly because the cost of a large component in asphalt – oil – has “gone through the roof.”

For the city’s Capital initiatives for 2022, the work involved completing and progressing with “several large-scale projects, including the sanitary sewer trunk main, the AMI Smart water meter replacement project and the rehabilitation of aging infrastructure on 102nd Street,” Pena noted.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow