By Nigel Maxwell

Financial report reveals city debt decreasing

Jul 13, 2015 | 10:26 PM

The City of Prince Albert’s 2014 annual report will soon be available for city residents to read and analyze.

The numbers contained within the report itself are not new, but rather it’s the way they are being presented that makes them fresh.

“The goal overall is to take the audited financial statements and make them a little bit more readable and understandable for residents that might be curious about the city’s financial position,” said Kiley Bear, the city’s director of communications.

The report shows the city’s long term debt in 2014 was $12,729,014.  This is compared with 2013 when the long term debt was $14,405, 947.  Long term debt in 2009 was over $19,000,000.

“Last year we added a statistical section that shows some five year trending in debts and reserves, and that’s added to our introductory section which includes a little bit more analysis than previous years as well as the actual audited statements,” she said.

Battle ready

Predators set to defend title as new PGLL season approaches

4h ago

Riderville

Riders Have Options Heading into Tuesday CFL Draft

10h ago

Weekend hockey

PAGC set to host largest Senator's Cup tournament to date

10h ago

Bear said administration felt it was important for the public to see the numbers but also get a sense of what work has been done over the past few years to address debt load, to avoid confusion.

 “Rather than just giving you what our particular debt might be that year, you’re gonna see how it’s been trending over five years, you’re going to see what some of the drivers were for that debt,” said Bear.

On Monday, Executive Committee was given the first look at the report.Councillor Don Cody said he was very impressed.

“What you wanna do is make it reader friendly for people who aren’t in the financial business, who aren’t in the council business, who don’t read these things every day,” he said.

Cody, who has seen his fair share of annual reports through his own term as Mayor and now as Councillor, said he could appreciate the hard work the administration took to making the financial records more reader friendly.  He said even as councillor, it’s very important for himself and the other councillors to be knowledgeable about the numbers.

“People ask a lot of questions about that financial report and if you see it the way they put it out this year, it makes good sense and it’s easy for us to help out explaining it to the public,” he said.

The report is expected to be approved by city council at next week’s meeting. Once it receives council’s blessing, the report will be available for the public to see on the city of Prince Albert’s website.Bear said the end goal is that the public feels they have a good understanding of how their tax dollars are being spent.

nmaxwell@panow.com

Follow on Twitter: @nigelmaxwell