The Municipality of Grey Highlands finished 2022 with a budget surplus.
At its meeting on April 19, Grey Highlands council approved a staff report that outlined the final budget numbers for 2022.
Grey Highlands ended the year with a budget surplus of $85,981, which is less than one per cent of the municipality’s operating tax levy. As part of the resolution approving the report, council approved transferring the operating reserve into the working capital reserve account. In addition, council also approved year-end transfers to reserves for individual departments including: building services, library, public utilities and capital.
The treasurer and director of finance, Anna McCarthy, said the inflation rate in 2022 had created difficult circumstances for local municipalities.
“[Last year] was a year of high inflation, particularly for fuel, which had rippling impacts for the municipality and was particularly felt for the tender results for our capital construction projects,” McCarthy said in her report.
During 2022, Grey Highlands saw a $278,000 over expenditure for fuel costs, which was mainly related to inflationary pressures. Wages for the municipality were under by $114,000 due to some absences throughout the year and long-term debt repayments were under budget by $296,000.
The report was received by council with little fanfare. Mayor Paul McQueen thanked finance staff for compiling the year-end numbers.
“It’s a good report, there is a lot of information. It’s a snapshot of how 2022 ended,” he said.
Coun. Tom Allwood, who is the Grey Highlands finance chair, also expressed his appreciation and said the final year-end results were indicative of a lot of hard work.
“Our surplus is $85,000. It’s a pretty good go at budgeting and staying within that budget,” said Allwood.
