YORKTON -
Finances are always going to be a major issue for municipal government, but at least here in Yorkton things appear to be well in-hand.
Yorkton Council moved at its regular meeting Monday to approve the 2023 draft audited statement, and within that document was of course a look at the city’s debt load.
In terms of long term debt as of Dec. 31, 2023 there was $1,230,731 still owing on the fire hall, set to be paid off in 2025, and $2,328,434 on the recent Dracup project. The total sits at $3,559,165 against a provincially-approved debt limit of $42,000.000.
Ashley Stradeski, Director of Finance with the city would also note during Monday’s meeting that the city could – if needed at some point – to have the debt limit raised, something they have not asked for in years.
Now the debt will take a jump in the next few weeks as Council also approved beginning the process for the city to take out a $12 million loan to finish work on York Road, but even that will be paid off in a timely fashion – expected at 5.5 years in documents circulated at the meeting.
Now obviously there are internally sourced financing on some projects, and a couple of huge projects financially loom on the horizon, a new waste treatment plant necessitated largely by new standards imposed from higher levels of government, and the new hospital which the province now requires the municipal government to pay a hefty chunk.
When those projects do come they will quickly see the city much closer to its borrowing limit.
But, even then there is some positive news in terms of the city being rather fiscally responsible.
The waste treatment plant falls under the city’s water utility umbrella, and that utility has been a self-funded aspect of the city for years. While the project will need to borrow money to be completed the utility will make the payments based on the funds it generates – in other words not from the general tax pie.
And the hospital is sort of an outlier cost – one a municipality doesn’t expect to have to pay, and so a levy has already been instituted to help fund it. The levy is admittedly still coming from residents pockets, but again will help take financial pressure off municipal tax revenues.
Now of course the situation is in-part legislated in the sense municipalities can’t deficit finance on an annual basis and that tends to structurally establish a sound financial foundation – making one wonder why the senior levels of government don’t do the same thing to get their finances in better shape -- so things locally tend to stay nicely in the black.
But even at that Yorkton Councils through the years have done a rather good job of the city’s long term debt. One might not always agree with every large dollar project undertaken but at least one can feel comfortable it is within the city’s means to afford.
