GUELPH – The County of Wellington is on track to record a budget surplus for the 2022 fiscal year.
A surplus of between $1.1 million and $1.75 million is projected in a report to the county’s administration committee from county treasurer Ken DeHart.
Councillor and administration committee chair Chris White told council at the June 30 meeting that while budget projections have varied from actual expenses in some cases, the overall results put the county on the plus side of the leger looking forward.
“We’re looking at about a $1.1 to a $1.7 million dollar surplus, which is always a positive,” said White.
“But with COVID, inflation, we’ve got scenarios where gas is going up in costs and causing us deficits, whereas with the recycling of plastics, the market is stronger, so we’re gaining some money there. We spent $150,000 supporting public health and vaccines, which was absolutely the right thing to do. But, by the same token, we’ve got another $250,000 coming in from planning because there’s a lot of work,” White explained.
“Because of changes in the restructuring of Ontario Works, there’s a positive $290,000 in salaries there. But we had an additional ($25,000) costs in emergency management for COVID. So there’s a lot of ups and downs but, at the end of the day, we’re in a positive situation. And of course, our growth is very strong and our development charges are very strong, so we’re in a very good fiscal position,” White added.
DeHart’s report notes the most significant factors in determining the county’s final year-end position in 2022 are expected to be:
– supplementary taxes and tax write-offs;
– the OPP contract reconciliation for 2021;
– continued impact of inflation, including high fuel costs for the roads fleet;
– the severity of winter weather and impact on roads and building operations (heat/hydro/energy/snow removal) costs;
– commodity markets for plastics throughout the remainder of the year and the impact on recyclable sales revenues.
– planning application fee revenues; and
– updates from the City of Guelph on potential land ambulance and POA (Provincial Offences Act) variances.
