In budget years 2018 to 2020, City of Powell River spent less for capital projects than what was budgeted.
At the October 28 finance committee meeting, chief financial officer Adam Langenmaier provided a report to councillors, indicating that while $7,627,013 had been budgeted over the three-year span for capital expenditures, the city spent $7,071,750, for a difference of $555,263 under budget.
“This is a recap of the completed capital projects from 2018 to 2020,” said Langenmaier. “Overall, each year, some projects have gone over budget and some are under. If we look at it as a whole, we are slightly ahead. We are, overall, under budget in our planning.”
Langenmaier said he often receives questions on what happens when council approves an amount to complete a project and it comes in under budget.
“Any unspent reserve funds go back into the reserve they come from,” said Langenmaier. “It’s not as if when council passes a financial plan for a project for $500,000 and only $400,000 gets spent that the money is no longer in the reserve. It always gets returned.
“When we have grant-funded projects, if we underspend, we are just not able to make the claim to the same extent.”
Langenmaier there were a couple of instances of going over budget on projects that were grant funded, that the city was able to get more funding from the granters.
“It’s nice but it’s rare,” said Langenmaier. “It’s very dependent on the type of project and where those funds are coming from.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott asked if the city is primarily coming in under budget on projects or if it is spending less because it is planning fewer projects than what the city has allocated money for.
“Are the projects we planned coming in under budget, or are we planning fewer projects to stay under budget?” asked Elliott.
Langenmaier said when the city budgets, most of the time, expenditures are less than what was budgeted.
Finance committee chair George Doubt said it was a valuable report from Langenmaier. He said one of the questions it answers from the public is: what has council done in the last couple of years?
“People say that to me; ‘you sit there and talk, but what have you actually done for me?’” said Doubt. “I would suggest that people look at the lists of capital projects in the report. Those are things that council and city staff have done for the people in the City of Powell River.
“The exciting thing about this report is that largely, projects have come in slightly under budget. That’s a very positive take on the administration of the funds and the care staff takes to keep projects on budget and getting bang for the buck.”
