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Five Year Financial Plan
April 14
!"#$The City of Williams Lake Five Year Financial Plan including
supplementary information is provided in this overview. Key areas
of note are long term debt, level of taxation, capital projects and
City Council Committee recommendations.
2015 Budget
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Table of Contents FIVE YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN BYLAW #2232
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RESERVES
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SUMMARY OF 2015 CAPITAL PROJECTS
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General Fund Capital Includes Airport
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Water and Sewer Capital
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Pavement Rehabilitation
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DEBT FINANCING
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TAXATION
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COMMITTEE COMPOSITION AND RESOLUTIONS
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Other Committee Recommendations and Changes to the Initial
Budget ................................... 24
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
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SUMMARY
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FIVE YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN BYLAW #2232
The City of Williams Lake Council Committees met over the course
of several months to each review the budgets associated with their
individual portfolios. The Finance Committee also met in Public
Forum over January and February to discuss the budget and allow
input from the public on the budget content or the changes being
proposed.
Long term goals to be incorporated into the budget process
include:
A goal of establishing new growth and a 0% increase in taxation
to cover operating and capital costs; A goal to eliminate reliance
on reserves for operations; Strive to be the most open and
transparent budget process in the Province of BC;
The City will begin budget discussions for the 2016-2020 budgets
in September of 2015 and hope to have a finalized budget to present
to the public by December. This will allow staff to begin the
tendering process earlier in the year to prepare and complete
approved capital projects. The City of Williams Lake has also
publicly published on the City Website the incremental steps of the
budget as well as the last 5 years of expenditures and revenues for
the public to view and comment. The site is interactive and
presents the figures in several different table views, allows for
custom reports to compare years and exports to excel for public
analysis. The site has an option to comment, ask questions, and
enables the City to be fully transparent with revenue and
expenditures to the public.
We are striving to be the most transparent community in B.C. The
newest report on OpenGov visualizing our budget process is the
latest example of our commitment to an open, public budget in which
we invite the communitys participation, said Finance Committee
Chair Councilor Scott Nelson.
The culmination of all the suggestions and meetings has resulted
in the completion of the presented 5 Year Financial Plan.
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RESERVES
The presented 5 Year Financial Plan includes transfers to
reserves increasing each year. The plan is heavily reliant on the
use of these transfers within the individual budget years. Council
has made a resolution to decrease dependency on reserves and look
for efficiencies within operations to achieve this goal.
New reserves established within the Financial Plan include a
transfer to a Water Reserve at a level of $125,000 and a transfer
to a Sewer Reserve in the amount of $125,000. The recommendation of
the Finance Committee is that these reserves are used towards
extending future water and sewer infrastructure in areas that
currently do not have access to these services. Past applications
for this type of infrastructure extension have not been
successful.
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SUMMARY OF 2015 CAPITAL PROJECTS
General Fund Capital Includes Airport
Airport Capital projects have been mainly dependent on receiving
funding from ACAP (Airport Capital Assistance Program). ACAP
dependent projects are noted in yellow.
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Water and Sewer Capital
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Pavement Rehabilitation
The City of Williams Lake is committed to continuing with the
road rehabilitation and reconstruction projects proposed in the
2014 Budget process at an annual cost of approximately $1.2 million
dollars. The 2015 road rehabilitations and costs are outlined
below.
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DEBT FINANCING
The City of Williams Lake will not be acquiring any new debt for
2015, but of note in the 5 Year Financial Plan is debt acquisition
in 2016 and in 2018 for purchases of Fire Department trucks. Short
Term Borrowing for Cameron Street Reconstruction will be fully paid
in 2015. Long Term Debt will be maturing 2018-2031.
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TAXATION
The 5 Year Financial Plan includes a 0% increase for 2015, with
a 3% increase built in over the next 4 years. Taxation in
subsequent years will be determined by Council based on tax base
growth, economy, capital requests and inflationary considerations.
Increases are for presentation of the Financial Plan only. Taxation
in 2014 showed an $114,000 decrease in taxation due to
supplementary re-assessments and decreased growth. 2015 preliminary
growth calculations show an $114,000 growth in taxation,
essentially gaining back what was lost in the prior year.
Anticipated growth in taxation over the next 5 Years is
estimated at approximately $110,000 annually which equates to a 1%
taxation increase.
With the re-establishment of the Economic Development
Corporation and dedicated funding from the City of Williams Lake,
the Corporation hopes to attract new business, development and
promote growth within the City. This will result in an increased
assessment base which will minimize dependency on reserves and
taxation increases.
The residents of the City of Williams Lake will see an increase
in taxation of approximately $40 per $100,000 of assessed value due
to the passing of the pool referendum. This taxation will take
effect beginning in 2015.
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COMMITTEE COMPOSITION AND RESOLUTIONS
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Other Committee Recommendations and Changes to the Initial
Budget
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
During the 2015 Budget Year, the City has made some significant
changes to staffing. The new management structure for the
organization is depicted below.
City departments with some functions Include:
Protective Services Fire Protection, Bylaw Municipal Services
Public Works, Roads, Water, Sewer, Fleet, Solid Waste, Cemetery,
Buildings,
Purchasing, Parks and Transportation. Corporate Administration
Policies, Agendas, FOI, Legal, Bylaws Development Services
Planning, Engineering and Building Inspection Financial Services
Budget, Financial Statements, Investment, Debt Administration,
Taxation, Utilities,
Accounts Payable, Payroll and Accounts Receivable Recreation
Services Complex Administration (Pool and Arena), Trails Human
Resources Hiring, Employee Wellness, Safety, Benefits RCMP
Policing, Community Safety, Victim Services Airport
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Payroll The Payroll Section administers the pay function for
City employees in accordance with the collective agreement and
policies which are in effect. As of March 1, 2015 there are
currently 169 employees excluding Management and Council on the
payroll system, divided into the groups below. The City is not
anticipating any major changes to this number over the course of
the Financial Plan. IUOE Local 882B (City employees) ... 122 Exempt
Employees (Volunteer Fire Fighters) ... 47
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SUMMARY
The City of Williams Lake has changed the budget deliberation
and public presentation process considerably in the last year from
what has been presented in the past. This is mainly due to public
Finance Committee meetings and our new transparency website hosted
by OpenGov. Our goal to be the most transparent financial and
budget process in BC is attainable and will be built upon each
year.
Although this report outlines mostly financial implications and
goals for the community, Council has made a commitment through its
Official Community Plan to long term non-financial goals such as
community safety, social development, environmental sustainability,
convenient transportation, distinctive arts, culture and heritage,
world class recreation, affordable housing, partnering with First
Nations and a lively downtown.
The individual departments of the City of Williams Lake are
consistently striving to improve services to the community, and
have been successful in achieving goals set by Council. This
continues to be a work in progress over the 5 Year Financial Plan
to work within the constraints of the current economy and revenue
generation levels. Staff will continue to bring forward ideas for
alternative revenue streams and maximize granting opportunities as
they become available.