Councillor Thorkelson hails CityWest and Legacy Corporation after recent Audit Statement

Prince Rupert City Council received the Auditor's Report on their Financial Statements last week, as the accounting firm Carlyle and Sheppard went over the City's books and provided their thoughts on the state of the City's Financial picture.

The report from the accounting firm was presented by the City's Financial Officer's Report, with City Councillor Joy Thorkelson taking time from last Monday's session to call attention to what she called two key elements of the Report.

Speaking to the the reviews of CityWest and Legacy Corporations included in the report, the two civic owned instruments that she descried as assets that have made the City better off for its financial position.

Though she did urge caution when it comes to Operating capital and seemed to suggest how the City should remain vigilant and bite the bullet when it comes to considering any spending plans.

The overall report is thirty pages in length and available from pages 13 to 47 of the Agenda Package.

The CityWest portion of the report can be examined from pages 25 and 29 of the Report, while a more wide ranging review of the Legacy Corporation information can be reviewed from pages 41 to 47.

Not mentioned by the Councillor, but worth reviewing as well, is a short overview for those looking for a comparison on the topic of Municipal Taxation with the review of the increase for Tax Revenues between 2013 and 2014 found on Schedule 1 (page 31) 

Revenue streams for transportation and Recreation are available for review on Schedule 2 (page 32)

As well the document outlined the scale of increases required for civic wages and benefits, while the statement also notes that professional fees from 2013 to 2014 have doubled.

Other areas which featured increases from year to year are Contracts, Energy costs, Supplies and Services, all of which can be found on Schedule 5 (page 35)

You can review Councillor Thorkelson's observations of the Audited Financial Statement and her declaration of support for the two civic owned organizations from the City's Video Archive page.

She introduces the topic at the 7 minute point and carries through until the 10 minute mark.



It's not surprising that Councillor Thorkelson would be offering up praise for the two civic instruments and what she believes they are delivering to the City.

Councillor Thorkelson
had praise for both CityWest
and Legacy Corp at
last Monday's council session

She has long been a supporter of keeping CityWest under the City of Prince Rupert umbrella and while frustrated at times over the return in dividends from the communication company, she has never suggested selling the company off or removing it  from the City portfolio.

She was also involved in the creation of the Legacy Corporation from its inception, part of the group from the last collective of City Council that brought forward the process to create the company.

Earlier this year, Mayor Brain outlined how one of the first steps that the city had taken from the Legacy Funding was the hiring Dr. Barb Faggetter to the position of resident scientist.

Since that time the city has embarked on a fairly robust hiring program for civic positions, a number of them funded through the returns delivered to the Legacy Corporation from money received from Exxon Mobil related to Lot 444 negotiations.

The job postings have continued on into mid June, with the most recent addition proposed to the civic workforce, this opportunity for an assistant Operations Manager for the Public Works Department.

For more items related CityWest see our archive page here, while more background on the Legacy Corporation is available here.

A full review of all City Council discussion topics can be found from our Council Discussions Archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review