A good first year
Port of Sydney Development Corp. had healthier revenues than expected
Its recently released audited financial statements show a good first year of operations for Port of Sydney Development Corp., the port’s CEO says.
“Considering it was my first year and it was a bit of a learning curve, things went according to plan or a little bit better, actually,” Marlene Usher said in an interview.
The 2015 financial statements were posted earlier this month to the port corporation’s website — http://www. sydneyport.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/PSDC-FS-2016. pdf . The port corporation’s surplus totaled almost $128,000. On the revenue side, several items were healthier than anticipated.
“Passenger tax was more than expected, as was berthage and wharfage, we did better than we had budgeted,” Usher said.
Passenger tax was about $27,000 greater than had been budgeted while berthage revenue was about $8,500 greater. Events and craft market revenue were also up from the projections.
The port corporation also received a boost in government funding that wasn’t originally anticipated. Usher said that included $75,000 from the province to assist marketing, which was in conjunction with an application that the port made to Transport Canada, and another approximately $57,000 that it received from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to assist a capital project involving the welcome centre.
Usher called the first year of operations “a learning period,” noting that much of the port’s cash flow comes in the months of August and September.
“You have to manage through the year, with respect to your cash reserves and stuff, but it was more or less an uneventful year except for the fact that we’ve started doing some business development and we hired a new person to help us with that, and he started in January,” she said.
On the expense side, wages and benefits came in at almost $687,000, up from the budgeted amount of almost $651,000. There was also almost $61,000 in travel costs, up from the budget allocation of $42,300.
Looking ahead, cruise shiprelated revenues should be at least on par with 2015 in the current year and stronger the following season, as there is expected to be a significant increase in the number of ships visiting the port. While there are 57 ships scheduled to call at the port this year, the projection for 2017 is in the 80-ship range.
“That’s based on bookings, so it’s not much guesswork in it,” Usher said.
“Hopefully in the future, we’ll have a second berth to grow revenues even more.”
The port has been pursuing federal and provincial commitments to fund the $20-million second cruise berth project. The CBRM council has already approved $6.7 million in its current capital budget for its share of the proposal.
In March, the port corporation had held its first annual general meeting since its formation in 2014 when it took over operations from the nowdefunct Sydney Port Corporation, but the audited financial statements were not yet ready, as the fiscal year hadn’t ended. At that meeting, the lack of audited financial statements had upset some attendees who questioned the validity of holding an annual general meeting when the articles of incorporation aren’t being followed.
At that time the port had projected net income of about $23,000.
The 2015 audited financial statements will be presented publicly at the next annual meeting. In future years, the Port of Sydney AGM will be held in September, and in municipal election years, including 2016, it will take place in November.