Five Year

Financial
Plan

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April 14

The City of Williams Lake Five Year Financial Plan including

supplementary information is provided in this overview. Key areas
of note are long term debt, level of taxation, capital projects and
City Council Committee recommendations.

2015 Budget

2015 Budget

Table of Contents
FIVE YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN BYLAW #2232 ................................................................................... 2
RESERVES ................................................................................................................................................. 14
SUMMARY OF 2015 CAPITAL PROJECTS ......................................................................................... 15
General Fund Capital Includes Airport ......................................................................................... 15
Water and Sewer Capital .................................................................................................................... 16
Pavement Rehabilitation ..................................................................................................................... 17
DEBT FINANCING ................................................................................................................................. 19
TAXATION ............................................................................................................................................... 20
COMMITTEE COMPOSITION AND RESOLUTIONS ...................................................................... 21
Other Committee Recommendations and Changes to the Initial Budget ................................... 24
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ...................................................................................................... 25
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 27

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2015 Budget
FIVE YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN BYLAW #2232

The City of Williams Lake Council Committees met over the course of several months to each review the budgets
associated with their individual portfolios. The Finance Committee also met in Public Forum over January and
February to discuss the budget and allow input from the public on the budget content or the changes being
proposed.
Long term goals to be incorporated into the budget process include:

A goal of establishing new growth and a 0% increase in taxation to cover operating and capital costs;
A goal to eliminate reliance on reserves for operations;
Strive to be the most open and transparent budget process in the Province of BC;

The City will begin budget discussions for the 2016-2020 budgets in September of 2015 and hope to have a finalized
budget to present to the public by December. This will allow staff to begin the tendering process earlier in the year to
prepare and complete approved capital projects.

The City of Williams Lake has also publicly published on the City Website the incremental steps of the budget as well
as the last 5 years of expenditures and revenues for the public to view and comment. The site is interactive and
presents the figures in several different table views, allows for custom reports to compare years and exports to excel
for public analysis. The site has an option to comment, ask questions, and enables the City to be fully transparent
with revenue and expenditures to the public.
We are striving to be the most transparent community in B.C. The newest report on OpenGov visualizing our
budget process is the latest example of our commitment to an open, public budget in which we invite the
communitys participation, said Finance Committee Chair Councilor Scott Nelson.
The culmination of all the suggestions and meetings has resulted in the completion of the presented 5 Year Financial
Plan.

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RESERVES
The presented 5 Year Financial Plan includes transfers to reserves increasing each year. The plan is heavily reliant on
the use of these transfers within the individual budget years. Council has made a resolution to decrease dependency
on reserves and look for efficiencies within operations to achieve this goal.
New reserves established within the Financial Plan include a transfer to a Water Reserve at a level of $125,000 and a
transfer to a Sewer Reserve in the amount of $125,000. The recommendation of the Finance Committee is that these
reserves are used towards extending future water and sewer infrastructure in areas that currently do not have access
to these services. Past applications for this type of infrastructure extension have not been successful.

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2015 Budget
SUMMARY OF 2015 CAPITAL PROJECTS

General Fund Capital Includes Airport
Airport Capital projects have been mainly dependent on receiving funding from ACAP (Airport Capital Assistance
Program). ACAP dependent projects are noted in yellow.

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Water and Sewer Capital

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Pavement Rehabilitation
The City of Williams Lake is committed to continuing with the road rehabilitation and reconstruction projects
proposed in the 2014 Budget process at an annual cost of approximately $1.2 million dollars. The 2015 road
rehabilitations and costs are outlined below.

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DEBT FINANCING

The City of Williams Lake will not be acquiring any new debt for 2015, but of note in the 5 Year Financial Plan is debt
acquisition in 2016 and in 2018 for purchases of Fire Department trucks.

Short Term Borrowing for Cameron Street Reconstruction will be fully paid in 2015. Long Term Debt will be
maturing 2018-2031.

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TAXATION

The 5 Year Financial Plan includes a 0% increase for 2015, with a 3% increase built in over the next 4 years. Taxation
in subsequent years will be determined by Council based on tax base growth, economy, capital requests and
inflationary considerations. Increases are for presentation of the Financial Plan only.

Taxation in 2014 showed an $114,000 decrease in taxation due to supplementary re-assessments and decreased
growth. 2015 preliminary growth calculations show an $114,000 growth in taxation, essentially gaining back what
was lost in the prior year.
Anticipated growth in taxation over the next 5 Years is estimated at approximately $110,000 annually which equates
to a 1% taxation increase.
With the re-establishment of the Economic Development Corporation and dedicated funding from the City of
Williams Lake, the Corporation hopes to attract new business, development and promote growth within the City.
This will result in an increased assessment base which will minimize dependency on reserves and taxation increases.
The residents of the City of Williams Lake will see an increase in taxation of approximately $40 per $100,000 of
assessed value due to the passing of the pool referendum. This taxation will take effect beginning in 2015.

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COMMITTEE COMPOSITION AND RESOLUTIONS

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Other Committee Recommendations and Changes to the Initial Budget

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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

During the 2015 Budget Year, the City has made some significant changes to staffing. The new management
structure for the organization is depicted below.
City departments with some functions Include:

Protective Services Fire Protection, Bylaw

Municipal Services Public Works, Roads, Water, Sewer, Fleet, Solid Waste, Cemetery, Buildings,
Purchasing, Parks and Transportation.

Corporate Administration Policies, Agendas, FOI, Legal, Bylaws

Development Services Planning, Engineering and Building Inspection

Financial Services Budget, Financial Statements, Investment, Debt Administration, Taxation, Utilities,
Accounts Payable, Payroll and Accounts Receivable

Recreation Services Complex Administration (Pool and Arena), Trails

Human Resources Hiring, Employee Wellness, Safety, Benefits

RCMP Policing, Community Safety, Victim Services

Airport

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Payroll

The Payroll Section administers the pay function for City employees in accordance with the collective agreement and
policies which are in effect. As of March 1, 2015 there are currently 169 employees excluding Management and
Council on the payroll system, divided into the groups below. The City is not anticipating any major changes to this
number over the course of the Financial Plan.

IUOE Local 882B (City employees) ... 122
Exempt Employees (Volunteer Fire Fighters) ... 47

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SUMMARY
The City of Williams Lake has changed the budget deliberation and public presentation process considerably in the
last year from what has been presented in the past. This is mainly due to public Finance Committee meetings and
our new transparency website hosted by OpenGov. Our goal to be the most transparent financial and budget process
in BC is attainable and will be built upon each year.
Although this report outlines mostly financial implications and goals for the community, Council has made a
commitment through its Official Community Plan to long term non-financial goals such as community safety, social
development, environmental sustainability, convenient transportation, distinctive arts, culture and heritage, world
class recreation, affordable housing, partnering with First Nations and a lively downtown.
The individual departments of the City of Williams Lake are consistently striving to improve services to the
community, and have been successful in achieving goals set by Council. This continues to be a work in progress over
the 5 Year Financial Plan to work within the constraints of the current economy and revenue generation levels. Staff
will continue to bring forward ideas for alternative revenue streams and maximize granting opportunities as they
become available.

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