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Ponoka town council wants more information on fire department budget

The Ponoka Fire Department’s (PFD) financial information presented to town council raised more questions than it answered.
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The Ponoka Fire Department’s (PFD) financial information presented to town council raised more questions than it answered.

Council was presented with the PFD’s full budget May 23 during the regular meeting with information provided by PFD Fire Chief Jamie Wilkinson. However, rather than accepting the item as information as it was originally presented, council requested it come back as a full presentation.

For Coun. Carla Prediger’s part, who said the budget is “near and dear to our hearts as council,” having the budget presented as such without explanation is not ideal.

Councillors had other questions on the PFD budget considering expenses sat at $459,000, which was $125,000 over its budgeted $324,000.

Coun. Teri Underhill suggested the cost appears high considering the department took 101 calls compared to previous years at 300 since it became a standalone department.

“How is that considered cost effective?” asked Underhill.

Mayor Rick Bonnett questioned several areas where the department was over budget such as the non-capital equipment with a spending of $53,000 of the $10,000 budget. Tools was another department with a large discrepancy with spending at $40,500 of the $3,500 budget.

“That’s not really budgeting. That’s just going and get what we need I guess,” said Bonnett.

CAO Albert Flootman pointed there was an unbudgeted item in the tools department that added to the costs. “Those costs were not identified in late 2015. That’s my understanding,” said Flootman.

“I think we can go through every department and find something like this. I’d like some new tools too but I can’t afford (them),” Bonnett added.

Total salaries were over with expenses at $244,000 with a budget of $198,000.

Revenue took a hit, which was expected considering the town is no longer receiving half of the PFD’s budget which included salaries from Ponoka County as well as the lost revenue from Alberta Transportation calls.

In 2015 the PFD’s actual revenue was $263,000, over the $180,000 budgeted while the 2016 actual revenue was $131,000, which was higher than the budgeted $77,000.

Overall, salaries and benefits, purchased services, and supplies and materials were over budget.

Council made the motion to bring back the PFD budget to the next meeting.

Overall spending a concern

Administration’s spending in all departments is a concern for council.

Among the items received was a financial analysis of the Town of Ponoka’s 2016 budget deficit.

Findings showed that purchased services were over but so was the repair and maintenance of unexpected items. Staff remuneration was over budget as the over time and standby dollars were not taken into account.

Administration admits that new staff positions were to be paid for with an anticipated electrical surplus. The town also had a refund on electrical that had to go back to ratepayers.

Coun. Prediger wanted to know how the town is actually going to mitigate these overages should they arise in the future.

“What I’m not really hearing yet is the accountability framework for departments,” said Prediger.

She pointed out that while there are unexpected repairs, general department expenses are up and there is yet to be a method to track spending.

Administration pointed to a new plan for department heads to meet monthly specifically to discuss their budgets and where they sit.

“We’ve gotta just make sure we do our due diligence on this,” added Bonnett.

CAO Albert Flootman pointed out there is a balance where the town must define service levels but also its budget. If the budget meets service levels then it works out, he added. “If the budget isn’t sufficient for the service levels to be delivered on then we’re running into a challenge.”

Prediger replied that there needs to be a middle ground for council and administration.