The City of Kimberley released their financial report for the year to date and City Chief Financial Officer, Jim Hendricks says there’s nothing that jumps out as being over or under budget thus far.
“We’re 75 per cent of the way through the year and the operating budget numbers are pretty much in line,” said Hendricks. “There’s actually some [numbers] that are a bit below budget, which we anticipate will come up as more work gets done towards the end of the year. The last two pages of the report are the capital and non capital projects. Council may find those of interest; there’s a number of projects are complete or nearing completion. That will give you an idea of percentage spent and I’ve asked the various project managers to provide brief comments to let you know where those projects are at.”
At a Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 23, Council discussed the report, which has recently undergone some changes to include notes from different departments on the status of their projects.
Councillor Kent Goodwin says he is happy about the new formatting for the report.
“I think it’s a great report and I’m glad we went to this new format,” said Goodwin. “I really like the comment section that actually tells us why things are the way they are.”
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Goodwin also pointed out that the City’s resources may be thin on some projects as some staff have been re-directed for capital projects.
“In the ‘operations’ operating budget, in the sanitary sewer and water [section], it says resources are directed to capital projects resulting in reduced operating expenses,” Goodwin said. “I’m just wondering if we’re having a capacity issue or not, or if it’s just a timing thing. Where: we have a lot of capitol projects, we put a lot of our staff on it and then they’re not doing the regular stuff that they would do. Is that going to put us behind eventually?”
Hendricks responded by saying, “I think time will tell as we get towards the end of the year because that’s exactly what’s happening there. We’re directing labour to the capital projects which pulls staff away from their every day operating duties. In speaking with the manager, everything seems to be chugging along okay so far, but I think that is something that needs to be looked at.”
Mayor Don McCormick says it has been a busy year for the City and he is excited to see how much work has been done at the end of the year.
“It’s a busy year in general for Scott and staff, and an awful lot of work is getting done this year,” McCormick said. “It’s going to be great at the end of the year, to take a look, not just on the accounting and the financial side, but [also] all the work that we in fact did get done.”
The report can be seen in the most recent agenda for City Council by visiting www.kimberley.ca,