Central Frontenac in “a healthy financial position” says auditor

Craig Bakay | Sep 19, 2024

Central Frontenac’s Statement of Financial Position (which is a report on the Township’s assets and liabilities) shows “a healthy financial position,” auditor Ryan Moore, a partner at MNP told Council at its regular meeting Sept. 10 in Sharbot Lake.

“It shows assets of about $14 million and liabilities of about $7 million,” he said. “That means you have enough assets to cover your medium and short-term liabilities.

“That $7 million is liquid assets that can convert to cash (and) the net asset of $7 million is indicative of good financial health.”

One liability that has jumped about $1 million is asset retirement obligation and that is because of legislation increasing the scope of such things from landfills to include things like asbestos removal from buildings, wells and gravel pits, he said.

Other than that, “there is nothing overly significant to report,” he said.

He did say there was “one small difficulty related to having no formal policy in place for estimating usefulness of capital assets while noting that the Township does have a capital assets policy in place.

“We do have a capital asset plan in place but it doesn’t actually estimate the useful lives of assets,” said Treasurer Michael McGovern. “I don’t know what the useful lives are for half of the equipment public works uses.

“If there is an existing asset in place, we go from that for consistency and if not, we take department heads’ expertise into account.”

Having said that, McGovern did acknowledge the policy is probably a bit out date and “like our reserves policy, it’s something I’ve been trying to get to.”

And, speaking of reserves, Moore noted that by the end of 2023, the Township had an accumulated operating surplus of $5.9 million, resulting in reserves of $5.8 million which is “modestly improved from the prior year — generally an encouraging sign.”

He said “you brought in more than you spent, some of which is due to government grants which tend to be volatile and appear to be drying up a bit.

“Property taxes and payments in lieu have increased about 2 per cent (and) there has been a fairly significant increase in investment income primarily because of money sitting in bank accounts earning interest.

“You can probably expect that to go down.”

In terms of 2023 expenditures, roads and bridges (transportation) accounted for just over 50 of spending, followed by protection (fire and police services) at 22 per cent, 13 per cent for general government, 6 per cent for recreation and culture, 6 per cent for environmental, 2 per cent for planning and development and 1 per cent for health.

Friday Night Bingos

Council granted a request by the Aabitwehii Non-profit organization to be considered a service club for purposes of renting Township facilities such as Oso Hall for its Friday night charity bingos.

Service Master Contract

Council approved Chief Building Official Andy Dillon’s request to hire Service Master at cost of $5,817.39 plus HST to remediated water infiltration in the Olden Community Centre Kitchen that resulted from higher than normal rainfall in August.

Further, Council resolved that $20,000 budgeted for a new accessible ramp be used to repair the ramp instead of replacement, cover the cost for the kitchen cleanup and hire a consultant to provide drawings and specifications for repairs and upgrades to the building.

Roof for Medical Centre

Council approved Chief Building Official Andy Dillon’s recommendation to accept a bid from Wise Choice Contracting to repair the Medical Centre roof at a cost of $53,218 plus HST. There were four bids received on the project and Wise Choice was the second lowest. It was determined that the lowest bid did not cover the entire scope of the work that was asked for.

There is $80,000 budgeted for this project but Dillon said the additional funds would be used as a contingency fund should any additional needed work be discovered after construction begins.

Winter Maintenance

Council awarded tenders to Hamilton Carpentry for winter maintenance in Area 1 for $3,516.55 and in Area 2 for $2,231.80 for a three-year term.