Red Deer County has posted a $5.8 million surplus for 2018.
Council got the good news on its $60 million 2018 budget in a presentation on Tuesday. Overall, the county collected $2.7 million more in taxes, penalties, sales and user charges and investment income than it had projected, said assistant county manager Ric Henderson.
The biggest contributor to the additional funds — $1.17 million — came from sales and user charges. Of that, $634,000 came from the money the county was able to recover when its roads, side slopes and guardrails were damaged by others.
There were a couple of signs that many are still feeling the effects of the economic downturn. The amount paid in penalties by tardy taxpayers was about $480,000 higher than budgeted.
While that’s not a good news line item, “that’s the reality of our times,” said Henderson.
As well, the amount the county could not collect in oil and gas taxes because of bankruptcies and other similar financial issues was at $1.38 million.
On the capital budget side, the county spent just over $15 million less than expected, although much of that was for projects not completed in 2018 that will be done this year.
However, $4.2 million involves direct savings when tenders for various projects came in less than anticipated.
Henderson said the county made no cuts to service levels to achieve its surplus.
“That would be a council decision,” he said.
Mayor Jim Wood said the good financial picture reflects the county’s good planning and realistic budgeting.
“Despite the economy, and the downturn in the oil and gas industry and our ability to collect some of those taxes we still have a surplus of $5 million,” he said.
Coun. Philip Massier said he was pleased to see that the county’s reserves will be boosted by the surplus.
pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
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