(File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

City of Melfort Financials

Safe Restart funding helping City of Melfort operate in projected surplus

Oct 21, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The City of Melfort’s financial status is looking a bit more positive than it did earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the regular council meeting on Monday, Oct. 19, there was plenty of talk regarding financials and how things stand in Melfort. One topic was the allocation of the Safe Restart funding that was provided by the provincial government to help with recovery from the pandemic.

“If it wasn’t for the government putting that safe restart funding in place,” said Mayor Rick Lang. “Then we would be in a serious deficit, and that’s the reality of it.”

According to conversation at the council meeting, the projected surplus for the city is around $8,000, which is “razor thin” according to Lang.

A portion of the Safe Restart funding is earmarked to work at the Northern Lights Palace pool. The plan is to use $180,399 of that funding and $50,601 from the facility maintenance reserve to resurface the pool deck and the change rooms. The pool has been closed since the pandemic began and there’s no immediate plans to open it as of right now. The resurfacing was something on the docket for the 2021 capital budget, but will be moved to 2020 thanks to the funding. Lang said it will be a benefit in the long run as well because this allows them to do the work while the pool is closed, preventing a longer shutdown when it opens again. The pool usually closes for a period of time for maintenance each year.

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The pool project and address other portions of the 2020 budget with the Safe Restart funding still leaves some funds for the city. Lang said they have a plan, but it can change.

“We may have to use that to offset deficits in 2021,” he said. “Because some of this COVID-19 aftermath might potentially put us in a position of having a deficit in 2021 after we approve that operating budget.”

Lang added that money could still be used in 2020 depending on how COVID-19 numbers track and if more restrictions are put in place.

Facilities in Melfort closed in March at the beginning of the pandemic and Lang told northeastNOW the city was on the ball in responding to COVID-19 to help limit the financial burden as well as keeping citizens safe.

“There were steps taken early enough to try to address and minimize the financial burden on the city,” he said. “But also from a social perspective the overall want of our administration and the city itself was to keep the citizens safe.”

He mentioned sometimes people don’t see the social aspect from the city, only the financial which Lang says was a benefit to having the facilities shut down when they did.

Meanwhile, there was also talk at Monday’s council meeting regarding the tax collection comparative statement from September. That statement showed over three times as many taxes collected in that month this year than in 2020. That can mainly be credited to the tax deferral program put in place by the city at the beginning of the pandemic to help soften the financial blow for residents.

There was some concern that the program would see people not pay their taxes on time, even with the deadline extended, but the statement showed the city is on track with tax collection year over year.

“A good majority of our citizens – to negate incurring a penalty – have come in and paid their taxes,” Lang said. “So, it worked exactly like it was supposed to.”

Lang added many cities may not be able to operate in a surplus this year, and he hopes Melfort continues to stay in that surplus projection.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6