Powell River Regional Hospital District and qathet Regional District (qRD) received clean audits for 2021.
At the regional hospital and regional district board meetings on April 28, directors heard from Cory Vanderhorst, from accounting firm MNP, who outlined the audits.
Vanderhorst, regarding the hospital audit, said the accounting company was happy to provide another clean audit.
He said the regional hospital district had financial assets of $6.2 million, plus there is a debt of $16.4 million being paid down on schedule, and the other large balance is the Willingdon Creek Village care facility, which accounts for most of the $22.8 million in tangible capital assets.
Total revenues were $2.2 million and expenses were $4.3 million, with the bulk being community grants to Vancouver Coastal Health for equipment, amounting to $2.7 million.
The regional hospital board carried a motion to approve the hospital district financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Moments later, at the qRD board meeting, Vanderhorst outlined the regional district’s financial position, saying he was happy to provide a clean audit opinion again for 2021.
Outlining the financial statement highlights, Vanderhorst said qRD had cash and investments of $17.9 million. When receivables are included, total financial assets are $42.7 million, he added.
qRD’s own debt is $2.6 million. Total liabilities are $34.7 million. Subtracting liabilities from financial assets results in a figure of nearly $8 million in terms of net financial assets. Vanderhorst said that had increased from the 2020 total of $6.6 million.
The tangible capital assets, which Vanderhorst said includes infrastructure and buildings, are $21.9 million at the end of the year, and there is an accumulated surplus of $30.1 million.
Vanderhorst said total qRD revenues in 2021, at $13.4 million, were down from the 2020 figure of $14.3 million. He said expenses were just shy of $10.5 million, which was up from $9.6 million in 2020.
“It’s one thing we would expect – 2020 was very hit by the pandemic and service levels and costs came back in 2021,” added Vanderhorst.
The surplus for the year was $2.9 million.
Vanderhorst said auditors were satisfied that financial statements were in accordance with the appropriate accounting framework for local governments. He said the auditors did not find irregularities materially impacting the statements, or evidence of conflicts of interest, unusual related party transactions, or illegal or questionable payments.
“We were able to see all of the documentation we wanted to see, talk to all of the people we wanted to talk to, and we didn’t find any irregularities,” added Vanderhorst.
The qRD board unanimously approved the financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2021.
