HEDDY SOROUR
Carleton Place is projecting a $7.8-million surplus for 2024 — a windfall that town staff attribute to both planned and unexpected savings.
These are preliminary results, subject to change following an audit by the town’s external auditors.
“We anticipated that we were going to have a $5.4-million surplus, and half of that was to go into the water and sewer reserve,” town treasurer Trisa McConkey told council.
The funds being funnelled into the water and sewer reserve are earmarked for critical infrastructure work. The town’s underground water and sewer systems were last updated in 1980, largely with support from upper-tier governments. Those pipes, said McConkey, will soon need to be replaced at a projected cost of more than $100 million.
“So we need to be saving money for that — that’s why we plan for that surplus every year,” she said. “We had also planned to contribute $2.8 million to the asset management reserve, and that’s what we did.”
In addition to the expected surplus, the town realized a further $2.18 million in unexpected funds.
These extra dollars came from several sources, including higher-than-expected bank interest, an unspent child-care grant from the county, unused Community Improvement Plan funds, increased Parks and Recreation revenue due to staffing changes, and a winter control operations surplus from last season.
“I did, as per our reserve policy, have a look at our winter control reserve, but it was already at the target we set, so I didn’t make any more adjustments to that or any of the other operational reserves. I didn’t need to,” said McConkey.
She suggested using the unexpected surplus to pay down unfunded debt from a recent land purchase.
But several councillors weren’t ready to commit.
“I don’t like making a financial decision this big not at budget time,” said Deputy Mayor Andrew Tennant. “That’s when we’re weighing things against each other. I personally would like to deposit this unexpected surplus into the strategic reserves and sit on it until budget, and then decide what we would like to do.”
Councillors Jeff Atkinson and Sarah Cavanagh agreed.
“We don’t know what costs will come up between now and then,” said Cavanagh. “As you said, you’re funding the debt internally now, so there’s no real urgency to make a decision in this moment versus a few months from now.”
Council agreed to deposit the unexpected surplus into the strategic reserve until budget talks begin in October. Staff budget presentations, initially scheduled for November, will be moved up, McConkey confirmed.
