Financial statements 2021: Edmundston's debt remains on downward trend

Apr 19, 2022

The Edmundston City Council has just adopted the financial statements for the year 2021. According to the budget method, the general operating fund shows a surplus of $37,740. The Water and Wastewater Services (Water and Sewer) Operating Fund shows a surplus of $28,564.  The surplus in the Power Generation Operating Fund was $52,137.

The New Brunswick Local Governance Act states that any surplus must be credited to the current account in the second year following the year in which it was incurred. Thus, the surpluses in all three funds will be included in the respective budgets in 2023.

According to Mayor Eric Marquis, these positive results, again this year, are the result of council's willingness to continue to prudently manage taxpayers' funds. "Year after year, we manage to carry out projects, while reducing the debt considerably.”

To that end, the net debt for 2021 has been reduced by $7.4 million from the previous year. In fact, the debt has been reduced from $108.2 million in 2012 to $45.8 million as of December 31, 2021, a 58% reduction.

According to Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards (CPSS), the consolidated surplus is $2.9M. It should be noted that grants received for various projects are included in revenues. Depreciation on fixed assets is included in expenses.

"The year 2021 was again filled with challenges related to the pandemic. We had to adjust our expenses in line with the closures of municipal facilities.  Nevertheless, we were able to proceed with our investment projects and infrastructure works to continue our development," explained the mayor. 

The municipality has a total of $9.3 million in reserve funds, compared to $6.3 million last year.  An amount of $5.9 million is allocated to the various capital funds.

The financial statements were presented by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton at the April 19 public meeting. Copies of the 2021 financial statements are available at City Hall or can be downloaded from the municipal website at edmundston.ca in the "Official Publications" section.

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CONTACT: Mr. Éric Marquis, Mayor, 506.739.2115, eric.marquis@edmundston.ca