MELFORT — A fall in facility revenues are causing some minor financial problems for the City of Melfort.
Sandra Peterson, Melfort’s treasurer, spoke at the July 13 council meeting about a potential $66,865 operations deficit due to the suspension of services until Sept. 1 as well as an increase in facility maintenance and staffing following the facilities reopening.
“The City was able to be flexible with resources on the opening of some outdoor facilities earlier than Sept. 1, 2020 in maintaining the targeted budget. But recent plans to open some indoor facilities earlier, safety requirements, and maintenance of City spaces will cause the general operating projections to be in a deficit,” said Peterson in her report to the city.
Some of these extra costs include maintaining sports fields that opened up on June 22, maintaining Mount Pleasant cemetery, opening up the Northern Lights Palace arena for the last two weeks of August and the Kerry Vickar for events starting on July 6, as well as staff positions for a new safety officer and a seasonal position at the landfill. However, the exact numbers won’t be known until after the operation funds have been spent and counted.
Tax collection was once again down for the city. Nearly $5 million were collected in 2020 to date compared to $6.3 million collected by the same time in 2019. This is mostly due to the tax deferrals put in place by the city to help citizens relieve some financial difficulties caused by COVID-19.
Lang said the operations deficit should iron itself out as soon as the deferrals period is over. Any deficit that the city incurs will be paid for through the Stabilization Fund and then the city will replenish those funds through the next city budget.
Council also pre-committed nearly $40,000 of the 2021 utility capital budget to continue their work on Burrows Avenue East and a section of Assiniboia Street. Some of the work was beyond the scope of Tollifson Cable Services Ltd. who was initially hired to complete the work but encountered some more complicated aspects of the project. Gee Bee Construction has been brought in to do the 300 block of Burrows Avenue East since there are more service connections to work around and reconnect, according to a report brought forth by Gerard Gilmore, the works and utilities director.
Melfort council received the Protective Services Department Report for the second quarter of 2020 during this past meeting.
Melfort Fire and Rescue responded to 40 incidents from April to June with 59 incidents so far in 2020. Of the total incidences, 38 per cent of incidents occurred within the city, while 68 per cent occurred in rural areas.
