(file photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Financial Statements

Mayor has ‘no concerns’ with City of Melfort’s 2019 financial statements

Aug 11, 2020 | 5:00 PM

The City of Melfort received its audited financial statements for 2019 at its council meeting on Monday, Aug 10 and by all accounts, the city is in favourable shape.

The City of Melfort held a surplus in 2019, non-financial assets are up, and net financial assets are a bit down.

MNP in Melfort presented the statements from its audit. Melfort’s Mayor Rick Lang said in his mind, there was nothing that stood out to him as a concern.

“Based on everything I’ve seen, and everything I’ve heard, and everything I’ve witnessed, I have no concerns whatsoever,” he said. “I’ve found that from council’s perspective, there’s been no concerns raised to me.”

The exact surplus for the city wasn’t disclosed, but revenues were about $3 million more than expenses in 2019, a good sign moving forward. Non-financial assets are up mainly due to a few projects including the Spruce Haven park expansion, repaving Saskatchewan Avenue through the Urban Highway Connector Program, as well as sidewalk and water line replacement. Net financial assets are down mainly due to the city purchasing more land for future expansion and development.

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Financial liabilities increased a little bit in 2019 but that’s mainly due to the timing of payments for a few commitments including landfill engineering.

Taxes receivable decreased, but that’s not a huge surprise as the tax title property has increased mainly due to tax enforcement.

While financially, the City of Melfort looked good heading into the 2020 year, nobody could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic which financially took a toll on individuals and municipalities. In July, the city projected a $70,000 deficit in its second quarterly financial report. Lang said a deficit is very possible for 2020, but he’s confident they can get through it.

“It can happen, and it’s happened before and it’s been dealt with,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world, it’s an issue that you have to deal with.”

Lang said the last time the City of Melfort saw a deficit was in 2003 — his first year in office as mayor.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarret6