Woolwich posts $1.1M surplus, allocates most of it to reserve funds

A COMBINATION OF INCREASED revenue, lower expenses and deferred work left Woolwich with a surplus of $1,113,000 now that the books are closed on 2015. That’s up from a surplus of $759,000 in 2014.

As well, the township posted surpluses in the operation of both its water ($198,493) and wastewater services ($211,057).

Most of the money was put into reserve funds, though councillors meeting Monday night allocated $40,000 for increased traffic-calming measures and another $10,000 to a physician recruitment program.

Plans to move ahead quickly to build a new community centre building in Heidelberg will likely require the township to draw on its infrastructure reserve fund, topped up to the tune of almost $900,000 from the 2015 surplus.

Projects that rolled over from 2015 into this year accounted for much of the $450,000 in capital budget surplus, reported director of finance Richard Petherick. On the operating side, the surplus of $664,000 came from sources such as a fairly mild winter that saw snow-clearing costs $151,000 lower than expected (the savings will be rolled into a new winter control reserve fund) and increased revenues such as an extra $60,000 from interest earned on investments such as the township’s ownership stake in Waterloo North Hydro.

In discussing the allocation of surplus funds, councillors earmarked $50,000 for the Heidelberg park fieldhouse. The project has a tentative cost of $350,000, with some $265,000 raised so far, the majority coming from a $150,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Director of recreation and facilities Ann McArthur noted the grant is conditional on the bulk of the work being completed by the end of 2016. That imposes a tight timeline on the project, for which a request for proposals (RFP) will be issued shortly.

While other donated funds may come to help offset what is now an $85,000 shortfall, the township may have to draw funds from its infrastructure reserve to get the job done in the meantime.

Coun. Mark Bauman suggested soliciting bids for a design-build project,

allowing the contractor to find ways to reduce the projected costs, perhaps down to $300,000.

“That would put some limits on the upper end of what we can afford,” he said.

Council remained committed to getting the new facility built this year, however.

“I’d like to see that project move on,” said Coun. Larry Shantz.

Following up on the previous week’s deliberations about traffic calming, Coun. Patrick Merlihan pushed to assign some of that surplus to measures such as the purchase of speed-indicator signs.

“$15,000 doesn’t go very far,” he said of the figure in this year’s budget.

An additional $40,000 was pencilled in, with staff to report back with options for using the increased budget this year.

Following a presentation by Ian McLean, president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, a further $10,000 was allocated for the organization’s physician recruitment program, which works to attract new family doctors to the region.