The Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) is in good financial health, according to a recent audit.
Kristin Gianotti, a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP gave details of the audit in a presentation to the RDBN board of directors on May 2 in Burns Lake.
“It’s our opinion that the financial statements for Dec. 31 are fairly presented in accordance with the accounting standards for [the] public sector,” she said.
With the statement of financial position of the RDBN, the picture improved in 2018 over 2017.
The amount of financial assets increased from $700,000 in 2017 to $1.8 million in 2018.
Temporary investments decreased from $10 million to $6.6 million.
“There was a grant receivable at the end of the year for an infrastructure project from the province. And because of some of the infrastructure projects during the year, temporary investments were drawn down,” Gianotti explained.
With liabilities, accounts payable increased from $2.8 million in 2017 to $4.4 million last year.
The deferred revenue - consistent with 2017 - sat at around $4 million.
The debt reserve fund was at $161,000.
Debt issued to municipalities was $9.4 million.
Total liabilities for 2018 were $19 million with a net financial asset of $1.1 million.
In the statement of operations, the total revenue for 2018 was $18 million, an increase from the $13 million of 2017.
“The biggest changes to revenue were the provincial grants for infrastructure projects this year. Also last year because of the fires there was some emergency funding that was received to cover some of the fire expenditures,” Gianotti said.
The total expenses came to $16 million, marking an increase of $5 million compared to 2017.
There was a total annual surplus of $2 million, and $4.4 million was spent on capital projects.
“The net effect is a decrease of $1 million in net financial assets,” she said, pointing out that the net financial assets are half of what they were in 2017 because the district spent grants and money in the bank and converted them to non-financial assets, such as property and equipment.
With the statement of cash flows, there was an in-flow of about $2 million from operating activities.
From investing activities there was a $3 million in-flow.
Financing activities - debt repayment - came to around $500,000.
Capital activities amounted to $4.3 million in net use of cash.
Overall there was an increase of $1 million of cash.
Board of directors chair Gerry Thiessen asked Gianotti if the district needs to pay attention to any areas of its financial performance.
The senior manager responded that comparing how different districts fare is difficult because each have different goals, however she reiterated that the RDBN’s financial state is good.
“Your accumulated surplus has increased over last year. And you’ve been doing a lot of infrastructure projects over the last year. The tangible capital assets are up.”
Blair McBride
Multimedia reporter
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