Port's PILT Payments, Watson Island revenue decreases highlight Financial Report to Council

Tuesday's City Council session provided the opportunity to get a glimpse of the City's Financial picture as of July of this year, as the City's Financial Officer outlined some notes from the Monthly Financial Report for that month.

Ms. Bomben reviewed the city's financial picture, providing some positive news from the Airport Ferry service as well as from the Recreation Department, while at the same time highlighting another decline in revenues from the Watson Island Industrial site.

As of July,  compared to numbers from 2013 revenue increases of 107,000 dollars were found from the Airport Ferry, while there were also increased revenue streams from the Recreation Department, which recorded an increase of 34,000 dollars compared to financial stats from 2013.

However, the positive financial picture clouded over a bit when the topic of Watson Island revenues came up, with the July numbers once again registering a decline from the industrial site, as the Watson Island revenues dropped 571,000 dollars, owing to the expiry of the Watco exclusivity agreement.

Ms. Bomben also outlined some background on the latest revenue amounts received from the Prince Rupert Port Authority 2014 payment, through the PILT assessment process.

From that format of payments in lieu of taxes, The Port has paid 1.152 million dollars which is the City's share for 2014. A figure which is 523,000 dollars short from what was budgeted by the city, which had expected a total share in lieu of taxes of 1.675 million.

Ms. Bomben went on to further explain, that had the Port not made its interim payment in relation to prior years while the City and Port attempted to resolve their dispute regarding land values, the city would be projecting a budget deficit after this current payment.

However, with that interim payment from prior years, the city is currently not expecting a budget deficit situation at this time.

As for expenditures, most departments are within budget for this time of year, while planned capital projects for 2014 are underway and nearing completion.

At the conclusion of her report, only Councillor Garon had a comment on Ms. Bomben's findings, commending the staff on the increase of usage at the Civic Centre and the increase in fees that have come with it.

You can review the short but quite informative review from the City's Video Archive. Ms. Bomben's report starts at the 31 minute mark and continues until the 33 minute mark.

For more items of interest on City Council items see our Archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review