The results of Bradford’s finances for the first eight months of 2023 are in, and things are looking good.
The town’s year-to-date financial results as of Aug. 31, 2023 appear to be on or below established budgets with no significant issues to report during the regular meeting of council in the Don Harrison Auditorium at the Bradford and District Memorial Community Centre at 125 Simcoe Road, on Tuesday evening, Oct. 3.
The town currently has $9,956,813 in surplus revenue for the rest of the year, according to a report prepared by Nathalie Carrier, deputy treasurer, who estimated that about $9.3M of that is from taxation revenues, all of which have been billed for the year.
Carrier expects the only additional tax revenue will come from potential supplementary taxes sent by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).
The report highlights that the year-to-date operations for the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library indicate an annual surplus of $179,731, part of which was due to a $257,417 savings in salaries and benefits, likely as a results of library workers striking for 71 days between July 21 and Sept. 29.
At the council meeting on Sept. 5, Katherine Grzejszczak, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 905, which is representing the 34 workers, estimated the library had saved about $23,000 per week in unpaid wages while workers had been on strike, which would add up to about $138,000 as of Aug. 31, which marked six complete weeks of the strike.
However, there were other areas where the library was over budget, including by $79,313 for professional services, and Grzejszczak claimed during the Sept. 19 meeting that the library had incurred $85,000 worth of lawyer expenses.
That point was reiterated in a statement during open forum earlier in this week’s meeting as well.
The report also highlights a combined surplus of $1,578,961 for Water and Wastewater.
When it comes to capital projects, the report notes the town planned $17.9M worth of investment in 2023 with $14.4M carried over from 2022, and council has approved $518M of investment for capital projects extending to 2027, of which $201M has been completed and $317M remains to be completed.
The town had about $50.7M in discretionary reserve funds as of Aug. 31, with about $9.1M left to be funded from the reserve by Dec. 31, and about $24.5 in the town reserves with about $12.1M left to be funded from the reserve by Dec. 31.
Council received the report for information with little discussion.
“It’s a good report. It’s good that we’re on track for our finances,” Mayor James Leduc said.
