City of Nelson partners with neighbouring communities to provide accounting and budgetary planning assistance
By Contributor
In an effort to support neighbouring municipalities tackle increasing public sector accounting requirements, the City of Nelson has struck an innovative set of arrangements with three Central Kootenay Regional District villages.
The Villages of Salmo, Slocan and Silverton have entered into individual agreements with the City.
Each of those agreements will see City of Nelson staff provide monthly and annual accounting services and budgetary planning assistance to the villages — efforts that will be of considerable benefit to the three of them, and The City as well.
“Nowadays, it’s increasingly challenging for smaller municipalities to keep up with the increasing complexity of public sector accounting standards,” says City of Nelson Chief Financial Officer Colin McClure.
“The overall increase in financial reporting required by the Province has been significant — and so are the related costs.”
McClure adds that while all three villages could hire their own Chief Financial Officers, there often isn’t enough workload or a large enough tax base to justify the expenditure on an additional salary.
So, the City of Nelson is being hired to do the work for them.
Nelson Mayor John Dooley says the arrangement will give Salmo, Slocan and Silverton access to the City’s considerable financial expertise and resources, and all at a very affordable rate.
“We’re very pleased to be partnering with these three fellow Central Kootenay municipalities,” says Mayor Dooley.
“These agreements validate our on-going efforts to work side-by-side with all our regional partners and create efficiencies, which is a great use of tax payers’ dollars.”
Fellow mayors agree.
“The Village of Slocan is delighted by the agreement,” says Slocan Mayor Madeleine Perriere. “It’s a local and collaborative solution.”
“The Financial Services Agreement allows smaller municipalities to focus on the operations of our villages,” says Salmo Mayor Ann Henderson, “while having increasingly demanding reporting handled by a professional team.”
Henderson adds that the increase in financial reporting requirements passed on by the province has “increased drastically” in the last few years.
That said, Silverton Mayor Kathy Provan believes the four-municipality agreement could be a template for other small BC municipalities facing the same accounting challenges.
Provan first proposed the co-operative effort and has already implemented its first phase. She says the process has been “very successful, and seamless.”
Mayor Dooley points out that City of Nelson staff will not be assisting the villages in tasks like day-to-day financial services.
They’ll ensure accounts are reconciled monthly, create year-end financial statements and audit file, and assist with the preparation of annual budgets and Five Year Financial Plans.
The Mayor adds that income generated by the agreements will be used to cover any additional staffing requirements, should they be necessary.
