The Village of Valemount released its quarterly budget numbers, and there is a lot of green all across the board.
Everything is on track to balance by year’s end, according to Valemount’s Chief Financial Officer, Lori McNee.
There were very few interesting lines of note on the quarterly budget this go around, but a few lines do draw in a reader’s eye more so than others.
The Village has received $4,500 in additional cemetery revenue this year, McNee says, unfortunately due to more burials and people purchasing plots.
The Village, too, has issued a higher number of licenses and permits this year, due to more development in the Village than anticipated by the administration.
Continuing to find money, the budget reads the Village has collected 159 per cent of its taxation revenue — meaning it collected more taxes than it needed or was entitled to — but the CFO says there is a logical explanation. The added taxation revenue, according to McNee, is because the Village still has tax revenue waiting to be submitted to different taxation authorities, so the percentage should drop closer to 100 per cent — where it should be — by the year’s end.
One line of the budget also reads, “B.C. Hydro,” and says Valemount is over budget by $105,000 (146 per cent), and says the Village has received more money than it anticipated.
However, it’s not a matter of being over budget, McNee says, but rather being given a grant, which isn’t necessarily included in the initial operating budget.
B.C. Hydro issues grant payments as per its own schedule, according to McNee, and the grants are based on the generating capacity of each location’s generating facility.
Valemount receives its grant payment for the Mica generating facility, McNee says, and B.C. Hydro increased the capacity at Mica by adding a new generating unit, so they increased the grant accordingly.
Valemount’s quarterly budget report suggests Valemount is on track to meet its targets, and the Village is financially sound.
