Valemount Council: Village audit, 2025 budget, tax rates
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Valemount Council discussed the Village’s most recent audit, the 2025 budget and tax rates during its special meeting on May 8th.
The meeting began at 12:30 p.m. with an in-camera session. Council held the meeting for consideration of three items per Sections 90 (1) (g) and (l) and 90 (2)(b) of the Community Charter to discuss matters related to:
(90)(1)(g) litigation or potential litigation affecting the municipality.
(90)(1)(l) discussions with municipal officers and employees respecting municipal objectives, measures and progress reports for the purposes of preparing an annual report under Section 98 [annual municipal report].
And 90(2)(b) the consideration of information received and held in confidence relating to negotiations between the municipality and a provincial government or the federal government or both, or between a provincial government or the federal government or both and a third party.
Mayor Owen Torgerson recalled the open meeting of council to order at 1:45 p.m.
Auditor’s Report
Professional auditor with the firm KPMG, Corey Naphtali, presented his report on the 2024 audit to Council. According to Naphtali, the firm expects it will issue a clean audit report, meaning the Village’s financial statements are accurate. Municipalities must prepare financial statements and have them independently audited once a year, then submit a copy of the audited financial statements to the Inspector of Municipalities by May 15th.
Naphtali outlined the changes in financial assets, liabilities and revenue from 2023 to 2024 in his presentation. According to him, the Village’s financial assets totaled $24.1M at the end of 2024, $1.1M less than the end of 2023 where the Village recorded $25.2M in assets. Additionally, the Village’s financial liabilities increased from $3.2M to $3.9M. This means the Village had $20.2M in net financial assets at the end of 2024, a $1.8M decrease from the previous year’s $22M in net financial assets.
The Village had a $1.3M surplus in revenue during 2024, though this was less than the $4.1M generated in 2023, Naphtali said. The Village currently has $45.2M in accumulated surplus, he added.
Torgerson thanked Naphtali for his presentation. Torgerson asked if asset retirement – that is, the removement of equipment or infrastructure at the end of its life, which is recorded as part of organization’s financial liabilities – would be impacted by inflation.
“We will likely see it impacted by inflationary pressures,” Naphtali said. “On an annual basis, that number [the asset retirement liabilities] needs to be looked at, and we need to consider whether there’s been a significant change in the cost.”
He added that often, significant changes in asset retirement costs come from remediating the equipment that had previously been retired. The firm does not anticipate significant year-over-year changes in asset retirement costs due to inflation, though it may have some minor impacts, according to Naphtali.
Torgerson thanked Naphtali for his response. He congratulated Director of Finance Lori McNee for her work on the financial statements and for receiving a clean audit. Council approved the audited financial statements.
Electricity Generator
Council approved entering a contract with Centre City Electric to install a generator at the municipal office, 735 Cranberry Lake Road. The contract is for $386,000 plus taxes, and is included in the 2025 budget.
The Village contracted Kamloops-based engineering consultancy firm XenonCyber Dynamics to help Village staff propose and select bids for the generator installation project. XenonCyber Dynamics reviewed the three quotes which were submitted to the firm’s request for bids on BCBids. One quote did not meet the project criteria, according to XenonCyber Dynamics. The firm recommended contracting Centre City Electric, which provided quotes for two different types of generators.
Five-Year Financial Plan
Council approved the 2025 Five-Year Financial Plan, a provincially mandated plan outlining a municipality’s budget for the current fiscal year and the following four years. Municipalities must adopt the plan by May 15th of each year in accordance with the Local Government Act and the Community Charter. Because councillors were scheduled to attend the North and Central Local Governments Association conference from May 12th through the 15th, Council held a special meeting to adopt the plan before the May 15th deadline.
Valemount’s Five-Year Financial Plan was available for public feedback from April 4th through April 22nd. According to the staff report on the plan, staff did not receive any comments during this time.
Council approved a third reading of the bylaw at its April 22nd regular meeting, and the Village has not made any changes to the bylaw since then, according to the staff report.
Tax Rate bylaw
According to the Community Charter, municipalities must also adopt a tax rate bylaw before May 15th each year. Council gave first, second and third reading to the 2025 tax rate bylaw at its regular meeting on April 22nd.
Council approved the 2025 tax rate bylaw at the special meeting in order to adopt the bylaw before the May 15th deadline.
Plasma donation
At the most recent council meeting on April 22nd, Councillor Pete Pearson directed staff to write a resolution in support of building a blood plasma donation centre in Prince George. Canadian Blood Services closed its Prince George whole blood donation centre in 2015, leaving B.C. with just four donation centres in Victoria, Vancouver and Surrey. The lack of blood donation options for northern B.C. residents was on a meeting agenda for the North and Central Local Governments Association, which was included for information in the April 22nd Valemount Council agenda.
Pearson’s resolution directed staff to draft a letter to Minister of Health Josie Osbourne and CEO of Canadian Blood Services Graham Sher in support of building a plasma donation centre in Prince George.
Councillor Pearson thanked staff for writing the resolution. Council unanimously approved his request to draft a letter.
Adjournment
There were no public comments at the meeting. Torgerson adjourned the meeting at 2:01 p.m.
