The Village of Port Alice presented its 2025-2029 financial plan at the Port Alice Community Centre on March 25.
Mayor Kevin Cameron introduced the presenter, village CAO and “financial person,” Bonnie Danyk. He acknowledged Danyk as responsible for a “clean bill of health” from their auditors for her financial plans, which, he claimed, is often hard to achieve among local governments. There were 11 people in attendance, seven members of the village council and staff, plus four residents.
Danyk listed the following services that are provided by the village on “a very small budget.” They have a staff consisting of seven full time, four part time and six casual positions responsible for enforcement, planning and development approvals, building inspection, accounts payable, accounts receivable, water and sewer billing, local government elections, social media updates, property taxation, faxing and photocopying, local governance, garbage collection, animal control, garden maintenance and economic development.
The Community Centre provides children’s programming, adult programming, facility rentals, the Rumblesheet newsletter, tourist information, social media updates, holiday programming, merchandise sales and community markets. Community Centre staff include one full time employee, plus a part time helper and some casual workers.
Public Works has three full time staff that deals with the transfer station, recycling, road maintenance, sidewalk maintenance, the cemetery, streetlights, boulevard maintenance, water services, sewer services, parks maintenance, the dock and boat launch, the sani-dump, dike maintenance, Link River maintenance and street and traffic signs.
Emergency services includes the volunteer fire department, a volunteer emergency coordinator and ESS (emergency social services).
Revenue sources for the village include taxation at 17 per cent, fees, charges and other revenue at 13 per cent, government grants at 36 per cent and appropriation from Surplus and Deferred Revenue at 35 per cent for a total dollar value of $4,909,320.00.
Taxation distribution is 81.08 per cent from residents, 7.2 per cent from utilities, 4.32 per cent from light industrial entities, 7.29 per cent from business, 0.63 per cent from recreation for a total dollar value of $812,630.00.
Danyk stated that when the Neucel pulp mill was running, tax revenue was 50/50 from residents and the mill. At that time their tax revenue was $1.5 million dollars. Now they are offering most of the same services, minus the arena, on a much smaller budget.
Danyk reported that 2025 budgeted taxation is 7 per cent more than 2024. The increases are due to inflation, supply chain challenges and the addition of the Link River Campsite to the budget. User fee revenues have been increased to offset inflation and to increase reserves for the Water and Sewer services.
The Village of Port Alice took over the management of the Link River campsite in 2024. Using funds from the Community Forest revenue, they increased the number of sites, added a group site, a new outhouse, new picnic tables and completed much needed repairs and maintenance. The Village has applied for additional upgrades for Link River in 2025 through the REDIP program. The Village partnered with NISS to build picnic tables for the campground.
Expenditures per department are as follows: highest was Public Works at 41.66 per cent, followed by General Government at 27.45 per cent, then Recreation at 15.77 per cent, Fire and Protective Services at 6.26 per cent, Sewer at 5.95 per cent and Water at 2.92 per cent for a total dollar value of $1,885,100.00.
Danyk mentioned that the budget for emergency services and ESS is $5000, $2700 of which goes to the satellite phone.
The Village has a debenture debt of $33,900 for upgrades to the community centre. It is a 25-year loan that will be paid off in 2036. It amounts to 1.7 per cent of the 2025 budget.
The Village has a list of new capital expenditures totaling $2,838,520.00 funded from grants and transfers from reserves for 2025. It includes new ESS equipment, Growing Communities Funds Projects, municipal office upgrades, fire department upgrades, streetlight replacement, culvert replacement and bridge rehabilitation, Marine Drive bank rehabilitation, the Lion’s Park Pavillion upgrade, a Firesmart coordinator, TACS marina upgrades and Link River improvements.
Capital improvements funded from the Gas Tax include streetlight replacement for $30,000, the Marine Drive bank rehabilitation at $200,000 and culvert replacement and bridge rehabilitation by the trailer park at $500,000 for a total of $730,000.
Capital expenditures covered by grants include the REDIP grant for Link River for $469,000, TACS Marina upgrades for $550,000, the Growing Communities Fund Projects for $757, 520.00, UBCM ESS Grant for the community centre generator for $40,000 and the UBCM Wildfire Grant for $40,000. Expenditures paid for by grants total $1,856,520.
Capital projects to be funded by other funds such as the North Island Community Forest and the Climate Action Grant include the Lion’s Pavillion upgrade for $50,000, municipal office upgrades for $40,000, Climate Action Fund streetlights for $73,000 and Climate Action Fund Fire Department upgrades for $89,000. The total expenditures paid for by these funds totals $252,000.
