The City of Quinte West received the 2022 financial indicator review at its council meeting on Wednesday.
A financial indicator review is done by all municipalities and provides a snapshot into a municipality’s fiscal health based on information from their audited financial statements.
Put together by the city’s Director of Finance, Caleb DenOuden, the financial indicator review is separated into two different sections with seven different categories in total.
Under the Sustainability Indicators section is the following:
- Total Taxes Receivable less Allowance for Uncollectibles – Shows how much of the taxes billed are not collected.
- Net Financial Assets or Net Debt – Indicates how much property tax and user fee revenue is servicing debt.
- Total Reserves and Discretionary Reserve Funds – Indicates how much money is set aside for future needs and contingencies.
- Cash Ratio (Total Cash and Cash Equivalents) – Indicates how much cash and liquid investments could be available to cover current obligations.
Under the Flexibility Indicators section is the following:
- Debt Servicing Cost – Indicates how much of each dollar raised in revenue is spent on paying down existing debt.
- Closing Amortization Balance – Indicates how much of the assets’ life expectancy has been consumed.
- Annual Surplus / (Deficit) – Indicates the municipality’s ability to cover its operational costs and have funds available for other purposes (e.g. reserves, debt repayment, etc.)
Each indicator is measured on a low-moderate-high level of risk.
Of the seven, three are marked as having moderate level of risk. Those three are the Net Debt, Debt Servicing Cost and Asset Consumption Ratio.
“The city has a lot of debt,” Councillor Shelley Stedall tells council.
“In comparison to both the median and the average, we’re at 8.8% (for Debt Servicing Cost). The median and average (for all municipalities in the province) are around four. So you know, we’re pretty much doubled.”
Councillor Don Kuntze also noted that the debt has likely increased since those 2022 numbers.
“The work is still getting done that needs to get done, well, most of it’s getting done that needs to get done because there’s lots to do,” Kuntze said to council.
“It’s good to get a report card but it’s also a good point to mention that the statistics are from 18 months ago or longer.”
The full report can be found at the City of Quinte West’s website.
