District of West Van balances 2009 budget
West Vancouver Coun. Shannon Walker
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Updated: December 22, 2009 1:16 PM
After juggling a shortfall of $280,900, the District of West Vancouver has come out of the red.
In June, the district's financial outlook was bleak, as the municipality faced an unexpected $130,000 bill for dealing with a bad winter, a $215,000 drop in building permit revenues and $48,000 over-expenditure in a number of non-departmental areas — totalling $280,900.
Leveling out this year's $130-million budget was challenging, the district's director of finance Richard Laing told council last week. Luckily strong building activity in the year's third quarter whittled down the building permit revenues loss to $45,000 and sundry revenues added $18,465 to the municipality's kitty.
West Van also saved $94,000 by deferring the hiring of an asset management manager and a senior buyer in purchasing. West Vancouver Police Department is projected to save a minimum of $95,000 due to staffing vacancies.
The district will spend an estimated $2.3 million on 2010 Olympic community events, the majority of which has been fundraised by the community, Laing explained.
"This is very good news for the district," he said.
The 2010 Leadership Committee, a committee set up to organize the district's community Games activities, raised more than $2 million, enabling staff to leverage $600,000 toward events, West Van's chief administrative officer Grant McRadu said.
A million of that overall sum was forked over to get the district's Olympic venue status, a label that, among other things, allows West Van to have a live celebration site, McRadu said.
Ninety-two per cent of the district's revenue comes from residential taxes, a fact which is unsustainable, said Coun. Shannon Walker, who sits on the finance committee.
On Jan. 18, the finance committee will be discussing the upcoming 2010 budget. The meeting at at city hall — 750-17th Street — at 7 p.m. is open to the public.
raldous@northshoreoutlook.com
