BATTLEFORD - The Town of Battleford had a mainly positive year in 2024, finishing the year with a surplus of about $2 million in the audited financial statements presented to council on June 26.
The statements were presented by Ryan Deis, of L&A Chartered Professional Accountants.
"The records were in good shape," he told council.
Mayor Ames Leslie was pleased with the report.
Revenues for the year came in just over $10 million, while expenses came in just over $8 million.
"Revenues are above the budgeted amount and expenses were below. It's never the intention to have either, but it's a nice combination to see that the financial statements are healthy and they came in to support the balanced budget. Actually, we have a little bit larger surplus than what we were hoping to have, so that's always good too," the mayor said.
"We initially budgeted for just short of a million dollars surplus, so we almost doubled the surplus this year. But there was some significant cost savings, as well as vacant employment positions in the community in 2024," Leslie added.
He noted part of the savings were due to the new CAO not starting until later in 2024 to fill the vacant position. As well, the town has a vacant Deputy Fire Chief position.
"There were some savings from shortages of positions, and then as well there was an increase of revenue sharing from the province that was not budgeted at the time," Leslie said.
Coun. Judy Pruden said she was a little concerned about the outstanding taxes amount in the report.
"We're fully staffed now on the finance team and the new CAO is at the desk, so there is going to be some pressure from council to get this back under control," the mayor said. "As we heard from council, it's not the highest it's been in the last five years, and it's not the highest it's ever been. But when you see an increase, it's something you need to pay attention to..."
The outstanding taxes came in at just over $600,000.
"When I took over as mayor, it was over a million dollars," Leslie said. "So, we've done a good job of bringing that number down, but I'm still not happy with the $600,000 outstanding taxation arrears. As mentioned before, it's going to be a priority for the administration going forward."
Looking ahead, the mayor said the town has a number of projects it will be working on.
One big project it is planning is for renovating the Battleford Arena.
"I think the big one is just the ongoing public consultation on the renovation of the rink," Leslie said, adding that a good portion of the cost for this project is sitting in reserves.
"There will definitely be money that will be re-routed for that project.",he noted.
Leslie also noted the town is also working on targeting improvements to its roads and infrastructure, another focus ahead for the town.
