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Financial assets increased for city
Kimberley City Council Report
By Nowell Berg
On May 12, City of Kimberley council held its regular bi-monthly meeting.
Councillors Sue Cairns, Kevin Dunnebacke, Diana Fox, Woody Maguire, and Jason McBain were present. Coun. Fox Chaired the meeting as Acting Mayor. Mayor Don McCormick and Coun. Sandra Roberts attended by video conference.
An archive of the meeting can be viewed on the City of Kimberley YouTube channel. Watch it here.
Audited Financial Statements
Mario Piroddi, BDO Canada LLP, presented council with the audited financial statements for 2024.
“We are issuing a clean auditor opinion,” said Piroddi in his opening remarks. “A big thank you to your finance team for making sure we got all the information we needed.”
He noted the improvement in the city’s financial position over the last year. There was an increase in financial assets from $41.8 million to almost $44 million ($43.99). Net financial assets increased from $15 million to $18.7 million.
Provincial grants were down from last year which impacts revenue. Despite that, Piroddi said that 2024 was “a very strong revenue year.” Forty-nine percent (49%) of revenue the city collects comes from property taxes.
When it comes to expenses, Peroddi said, “There wasn’t anything standing out to us to highlight.” Meaning that expenditures were in line with budget expectations.
Council added over $3.7 million to reserve funds that will be used for infrastructure renewal projects in the next several years.
Concluding, Peroddi said, “It was a strong audit. There are really no concerns that we have that are required to be brought forward to council.”
Later in the meeting, council “accepted and approved” the audited consolidated financial statements. They can be found on the city’s website.
More Heads in the Beds – Tourism Kimberley Update
Two persons from Tourism Kimberley (TK) updated council on who TK is, what they do and why tourism is important to Kimberley.
Tod Caton, TK Board Chair introduced the new Executive Director, Andrew McNair who made the presentation to council.
McNair said, “We are a non-profit society and the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) for the city.” Our goal is to “ensure tourism continues to benefit the community that is both respectful and sustainable.”
At a high-level, McNair told Council that TK undertakes destination marketing, operates the visitor information centre (15,000 visitors annually), supports businesses, creates online content, gathers data and provides insights, and collaborates with key partners.
McNair said tourism is an “important economic contributor. It brings in millions of dollars each year.” He added, “Shoulder season is something we want to continue to try and grow a bit more and put more heads in the beds.”
In 2023 there were 250,000 visitors to Kimberley. Web traffic continues to grow. In 2024, unique visitors to the website were up 30% to 45,000. The visitor base continues to be from B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan. “Rubber tire traffic.”
McNair suggested tourism needs to be “sustainable and balanced.” To achieve that, the TK plan is to encourage “longer stays and promote off-peak times (shoulder season).”
TK will continue to use digital marketing to attract visitors and highlight arts and family-friendly events. They will also support events that drive tourism like Round the Mountain and the Nordic Western Championships.
McNair concluded, “Let’s make sure tourism strengthens not strains Kimberley.”
Acting Mayor Fox responded to the TK presentation by voicing her “frustration” at not knowing what TK does, even after reading and listening to the presentation. She went on to say, “I don’t know what your operating budget is, or what you do with the money we give you. I don’t know who’s on your Board of Directors.”
She then called TK out for a poor presentation. “All due respect, if this is the kind of presentations you give to other people, you’re doing a horrible job of selling this community. I mean that as nicely as possible. I doesn’t feel like you care. And, that really bothers me.”
McNair and Caton replied that marketing is “outward”, mostly “digital” with Google, “some print” with Trench, operating the visitor information centre and telling Kimberley’s story.
Fox concluded, “I was hoping for something very tangible that gave me a lot of confidence in how you guys were moving forward, and it just feels like you are still figuring stuff out.”
Kimberley city council assembles twice monthly starting at 7 p.m.
The next regular council meeting: May 26.
e-KNOW file photo
e-KNOW
