The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

14 Acton/Georgetown, Friday, June 15, 2007 2007 finances appear to be on track More tax dollars padded 2006 budget by $630,000 CYNTHIA GAMBLE Staff Writer Additional taxes-- almost double than what was expected-- led to a Town surplus of about $630,000 in the 2006 budget. As a result, the financial standing of the Town of Halton Hills is good as of December 31, 2006, said Town Manager of Accounting Cor Buikema, commenting on the annual financial statements released recently. While it's still early yet, 2007 finances appear to be on track, he said. The Town collected $362,420 more than the expected $425,000 in supplementary taxes-- the levy paid by new residents and industry arriving in the community in 2006. The Town had under-spent its expenditures by $224,307 and had a revenue increase of $412,180 for a total surplus of $636,487. As per council policy, the Town has already allocated the money-- $325,000 to the 2007 budget, $202,450 to the Capital Financing Reserve Fund, $62,292 to the Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve, and $46,719 to the Repairs, Maintenance and Revitalization Reserve. However, the surplus-- and the resulting contributions to the reserves-- is less than in previous years, Buikema said. Last year, the surplus was $1.2 million. The difference is due to provincial legislation that mandates all building permit revenues go into a special revenue reserve for future building budgets. This could affect the bottom line of the Town's reserves in future years, he said. In 2006, mild weather contributed to the overall good financial picture as it resulted in the under-spending of the winter control budget by $374,000. But Building Zoning and Enforcement Services exceeded its budget by $93,500 as did Engineering and Public Works by $101,900. Buikema suggested the milder winter led to an unexpected (and unbudgeted for) longer construction season and more roadwork repairs. Council had $25,000 to spare in its 2006 budget as did the Planning Department and the Clerk's Department. But the Fire Department went over its projected budget by almost $80,000 and the Finance Department by $48,000. There were several variances in the Recreation and Parks Departmentrecreation services and the Gellert Community Centre was under by $161,000 and $82,000 respectively, but that was offset by over-expenditures on recreation facilities and other recreation accounts to the tune of $155,000. Corporate expenses also took a hit on its Ontario Municipal Board hearing account with only $42,900 budgeted, but $116,500 spent. The Town also spent $10,000 more than anticipated on legal services and wrote off $30,000 more in taxes than budgeted for a total of $194,000 in uncollected taxes. Meanwhile, the Town has a closing balance (Dec. 31, 06) on its reserves, trust funds and other accounts of $24.4 million. That breaks down to $8.5 million in reserves, $13.4 in deferred revenues (i.e. development charges and gas tax funds) and $2.4 in trust funds (i.e. cemeteries). The Town had an average 3.55 per cent rate of return on its investment income of $1.5 million. In 2005 the rate of return was 3.4 per cent. The Town's portfolio read like this as of Dec. 31, 2006: $977,207 cash; $6.78 million Halton Region investment fund; $30,755 ONE Money Market Fund and $26.9 million in the ONE Bond Fund for a total $36.6 million in investments. The funds are split: 8.3 per cent cash (up from 2.8 per cent in 2005); 18.2 per cent in the Halton of Region pooled investment, (0 per cent last year); Money Market Fund (1 year or less), 0.1 per cent (down from 3.2 per cent) and bond fund (1-3 years), 73.4 per cent (down from 94 per cent). The Town begins working on the 2008 budget in August, when the Finance Department presents its snapshot of what the 2008 budget could look like. (Cynthia Gamble can be reached at cgamble@independentfreepress.com)