The Estevan Exhibition Association held its annual general meeting on Monday evening and despite a loss of $20,000, there is a feeling that the EEA is still going strong.
Ryan Siever, chartered accountant, went over the finer details of the organization's financial statements with members during the meeting.
"Due to the kind of year it was with the flooding the revenue dropped," said Siever. "Looking at these revenue accounts, everything was down during the year."
With revenue down and expenses down, Siever said they would have had about the same amount of cash, but they purchased a tractor that kept them in the red.
"We're not worried about a growing concern issue or anything at this point. We believe in the ability of the organization to stay really strong. As I said at the start, if that tractor hadn't been purchased, your cash basically would have been the exact same as the prior year. Cash flow-wise everything is still sitting here nice and strong even though you guys showed a loss."
He noted that grant revenue was up more than $8,000 in large part thanks to money given by Spectra Credit Union. Overall, the EEA earned $174,564, a decrease of almost $30,000 from 2010. The biggest decrease was in revenue from the fair, which brought in close to $12,000 less, while rental revenue was down about $11,000.
With less revenue coming in, the organization was able to cut costs, operating on a budget of $194,693, about $8,000 less than what they spent the previous year. Big shifts in expenses came from the rodeo, which was postponed and held later in the fall, moving from a three-day event down to two days. That meant less was spent on the rodeo itself, while costs in advertising and promotion more than doubled. It was noted that was likely because they had to advertise twice for the rodeo.
Dallas Spencer, EEA president, said the organization is looking ahead, undeterred by some of the hurdles they encountered in 2011.
"It will be a whole new year. This year we're planning in the spring to do a little bit of preventative measures, maybe a little bit of trenching to make sure the water stays out of the way. Other than that it will be just going with the flow again," said Spencer.
The group will continue with all of the events they have become known to organize, and while there is talk of hosting the rodeo in the fall, like it was forced to do last year, nothing is set in stone.
Four directors on the board were up for re-election, with Clayton Toner and Connie Lester nominated for further terms. Chad Ross and Melissa Harding were new nominees, while other members were attempting to contact Carol Ross, to see if she wished to be nominated again.
The meeting closed with an in-camera session for members with a number of business items on the agenda.
