McBride Council: Auditor’s report, 2025 budget, tax rates
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
McBride Council adopted the Village’s 2025-2029 Financial Plan as well as the 2025 property tax rates during a special council meeting on May 8th.
Mayor Gene Runtz called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Council moved to add one late item to the agenda: the appointment of a Village delegate on the McBride and District Chamber of Commerce.
Financial Statements
Auditor with the firm KPMG, Micaela Roque, presented a draft of the Village’s 2024 financial statements to Council. B.C. municipalities must submit financial statements which have been independently audited to the provincial government by May 15th each year.
Roque thanked the Village’s financial consultant, Karen Stahl, as well as the rest of the Village’s staff for their work and collaboration in producing the financial statements.
The firm will be issuing a clean audit opinion, meaning auditors did not find any issues with the statements, according to Roque.
The Village’s total financial assets have increased from $5.2M to over $6M throughout the past year, Roque said. Part of this is because the investment in the McBride Community Forest Corporation increased from $1.1M to $1.6M, she added.
While the Village’s total financial liabilities have increased to $1.7M – up from last year’s $936,000 – the total financial assets are more than enough to pay off these liabilities, Roque said.
However, the Village’s net revenue decreased by $1.2M, according to Roque’s presentation. Last year, the Village had $3.8M in revenue, but ended the 2024 fiscal year with $2.6M in revenue. She attributed this drop to two grants which the Village received in 2023 but did not receive in 2024: the Growing Community Fund and the Federal Infrastructure Grant. Additionally, inflation and salary increases contributed to the $2.9M in expenses the Village had in 2024, compared to $2.5M in expenses in 2023.
Council did not have any questions for Roque after her presentation.
“I’d like to thank you for the cooperation that you’ve given our staff this year,” Runtz said. “I know that things went smoother than ever before… it’s nice to see our consulting people working so tightly with our own staff.”
Five-Year Financial Plan
B.C. municipalities must adopt their budget for the next year, as well as the following four years, by May 15th annually. Council gave first, second and third reading for the 2025-2029 Financial Plan during its regular meeting on May 6th.
This year’s budget includes funding for the development of an alternate water source for the village, as well as improvements to the Dominion Creek water weir, both of which will be paid for with the Growing Communities Fund received last year and may also be funded with grants geared towards climate change resilience. Additionally, the budget has a line for cemetery improvements including fence installation, benches and row markers. The fencing was purchased for about $12,000 in 2023, but it will be installed in 2025, according to the budget.
Council unanimously voted to adopt the plan.
Property tax rates
In addition to five-year financial plans, B.C. municipalities must adopt a bylaw outlining municipal property taxes before May 15th every year. McBride collects taxes for the Regional District as well as the regional hospital.
The 2025 tax rates list general municipal tax rates as about $5.50 per every $1000 in property value for residential buildings, as well as $0.73 for the regional hospital and $3.09 for the Regional District. Business properties are taxed at $13.46 per $1000 in taxable value for the municipal taxes, along with $1.79 and $7.58 for the hospital and Regional District, respectively.
Council unanimously voted to adopt the 2025 tax rates bylaw.
Financial statement approval
Council unanimously voted to approve the audited financial statements Roque’s firm, KPMG, compiled. The audited statements will be made available for public inspection and provided to the Inspector of Municipalities, in accordance with the provincial Business Corporations Act.
Chamber of Commerce delegates
Council voted to appoint Councillor Pietro Caputo as the Village delegate to the Chamber of Commerce, with Runtz acting as the alternate delegate.
Councillor Tina Bennett asked why Council was appointing a delegate.
Runtz said the current delegate, Councillor Joe Kolida, told Runtz he would continue to be the delegate if nobody else offered. However, Runtz said he later had a conversation with Caputo where Caputo said he would be interested in being the delegate.
With no further discussion, Council approved Caputo as the new delegate to the Chamber of Commerce.
