The amended version of Rossland’s Financial Plan was adopted after a public consultation on Monday, Dec. 12 at the Miners Hall.
As part of city staff’s housekeeping, at year end, if there are any material changes to the the city’s budget over the year that need to be carried over, the city is required to pass a Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw.
“A few major events did take place during the year that weren’t captured in our initial budget,” said Chief Financial Officer Mike Kennedy. “Most were related to revenues for grants that had not been received and not been included in the initial budget.”
The city was successful in accessing several grants in 2022, which added up to almost $440,000 and included grants for an active transportation study, climate action program, and the energy home retrofit assist program that started this month.
“That is the first big part of the financial amendment bylaw, the second is more of a housekeeping matter,” explained Kennedy. “We have an operational budget for the day to day things, and a capital budget for big ticket items that have multi-year use.”
The city had budgeted $8.4 million for 2022, but only about half of that sum was used as a few projects did not see the light of day. The bylaw enables the capital from these projects and the city’s reserve funds be transferred into next year’s budget in order to complete the projects, said Kennedy.
Projects include completion of Rossland Yards and the new city council quarters, a public washroom in Harry Lefevre Square, and the proposed Gazebo and upgrades to Rossglen Park.
All told, Kennedy says the city will have $439,000 worth of new grant revenue that will support climate-changing projects and $4-million to complete capital projects the city has already committed to and carried into 2023.
Given there was no input from public or concerns from council, the amended financial plan bylaw was adopted unanimously later in the council meeting.
Read: Rossland energy retrofit assist program gets ready to launch
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