Region of Queens Municipality (RQM) is in good financial shape after ending fiscal year 2017-18 with a modest surplus and slight reduction in debt. That was the message from accounting firm Belliveau Veinotte Inc. as it presented the municipality’s audited financial statements to council Aug. 14.
Auditors had some “minor suggestions” for staff but found “nothing of major significance or that should cause major alarm,” said company representative Paul Belliveau.
RQM achieved an operating surplus of $138,233 in the fiscal year ending March 31 based on revenues of $18,742,474 and expenditures of $18,604,241. The municipality recorded a $236,292 surplus the previous year, but that was largely due to an unexpected spike in property deed transfer taxes.
Long-term debt was reduced by $269,371 thanks to regular principal payments made throughout 2017-18, auditors told council. The municipality’s long-term debt now stands at $3,261,975.
Auditor Mike Metcalfe said RQM’s landfill, which sells services to other municipalities, continues to be an economic generator. Meanwhile, Queens Place Emera Centre remains a drag on the municipality’s finances, he said.
Speaking to LighthouseNow, Mayor David Dagley said the audited financial statements show RQM is being prudent with taxpayers’ money. “We’re doing what we’re supposed to do as a municipal unit,” he said. “We’re having excellent bookkeeping and records. We’ve accumulated a very small surplus in the last year, which is better than a deficit.”
If there is an area of concern for RQM, it’s the municipality’s high level of uncollected taxes. Financial indicators released by the province earlier this year flagged RQM’s 12.6 per cent rate of uncollected taxes. The provincial average for rural municipal units is 9.0 per cent.
“Collecting unpaid taxes is a priority and we’re working on that constantly,” said Dagley, who attributed RQM’s higher-than-average rate of default to the continuing fallout from the 2012 closure of the Bowater Mersey paper mill.
Municipal finance director Jennifer Keating-Hubley said every effort is being made to reduce uncollected taxes. “We’ve been more aggressive with our tax sales,” she said, referring to the sale of properties seized due to failure to pay municipal taxes.
Documents from Belliveau Veinotte Inc. report $105,217 in proceeds from tax sales in 2017 and $68,491 so far in 2018. Keating-Hubley said RQM is also being more flexible with repayment plans for those who have fallen behind on their tax payments. “We have a large binder full of repayment plans,” she said. “That’s definitely an area we’ve improved on.”
The percentage of uncollected taxes has been moving in the right direction the last couple of years, a trend Keating-Hubley expects will continue. “We were in the 15 per cent range before (and) we were 12.6 per cent last year,” she said.
LighthouseNow Progress Bulletin
August 22, 2018
Scott Costen 