HUMBOLDT — With 10 months out of 12 complete, it’s looking like the city will end up in a favourable position when it comes to its budget.
A report provided to council by Jace Porten, the city’s finance manager, suggests Humboldt could have $300,000 to $700,000 extra compared to what was predicted in the budget.
“As noted, many variances are because of the COVID-19, and shutdowns changing how things operated through many parts of the year,” he told council at their meeting on Nov. 23.
For many city departments, like leisure services and cultural services, gains were made due to reduced staffing and unfilled positions. Leisure services in particular lost revenue from the arena, swimming pool and ball diamonds due to COVID-19 closures and health measures.
The city is spending less on water line maintenance as there have been fewer water breaks than expected so far.
Michael Behiel, Humboldt’s mayor, asked why there was such a large range in the estimate. Porten confirmed to Behiel that there were some bills coming up that could affect the city’s numbers.
“There's also some grants that we can't recognize unless they're spent in the current year. Whether we recognize those as revenue in the current year or not could definitely change that as well.”
The city is also expecting around $30,000 less from SaskEnergy due to lower surcharge revenue
Meetings with council members to work on next year’s budget will take place in December, with the process expected to be completed the same time as usual. In the last two years, budgets have been approved in December, with exact tax rates determined in the spring.
