The Municipality of Grey Highlands had a slight budget deficit in 2023.
At its meeting on April 3, council received a staff report that forecast the 2023 operating budget would finish with a $100,000 deficit.
The report outlined some of the reasons and variances for the slight financial shortfall.
They include:
- $55,000 in extra expenses for the expansion of hours at the municipality’s four local arenas.
- $35,946 for overtime during the harsher winter months early in 2023.
- Volunteer fire department wages were $26,000 over budget
- The fuel budget was $50,000 over budget.
- Municipal costs for hydro were over by $36,365, of that total $21,000 was for the four arenas.
Other areas of the budget saw surpluses. They included:
- Grey Highlands saved $100,000 in staff expenses due to vacancies throughout the year.
- Revenue from the conversion of the blue box recycling program (in 2023 producers became responsible for blue box collection expenses) was $85,000 more than expected.
- Ice time rental revenue was $48,120 more than budget.
Director of Finance and Treasurer Anna McCarthy said in her report the numbers in the recently approved 2024 budget had been adjusted to reflect the final numbers for 2023.
“In many cases, the 2024 budget (draft, at the time of writing this report) has been adjusted to account for those items where there are known variances,” she said.
Council received the report without making any comments.
After the meeting, McCarthy said a subsequent report would be coming to council in the near future to determine a course of action to mitigate the 2023 deficit. One possibility, she said, is to use money from the municipality’s rate stabilization reserve fund.
