Dollars & Sense P e r s p e c ti v e
Issue #116 • september 2021
Virtual Boot Camp, Take Two Member Profile: Nelson Chan Employment Benefits
p r es i d e nt ’ s m es s ag e in this issue President’s Message 2 Executive Director’s Message 4 Boot Camp Thank You 7 Prisoner of Boot Camp On-Air 8 Membership Profile 9 MFA’s Corner 10 Economic Update Q3 13 Reserve Funds – Refresher & Review of Pandemic Implications 16 Integrating Climate Change into Asset Management Planning 18 Budget Book Vs. Financial Statements: What’s Worse? 20 Employment Benefits 22 Using Insurance to Set Your Business Continuity Plan Up for Success 24 How to Prevent and Respond to a Ransomware Attack 25
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ere we are, September already and if you’re like me, you’re wondering where the summer went. As with many of your local governments, while summer brings a much needed opportunity to pause, there is also still a lot of work to do. This holds true for GFOABC as well. Following the annual conference and inaugural Board meeting, staff spent time onboarding the new Board and committee members while also putting the pieces in place to support the work for the upcoming year. Each of the committees (Executive, Communications, Education, External Relations), met virtually in July to review Terms of Reference and discuss the annual Committee Workplans. As in prior years, we have an enthusiastic and dedicated group of volunteers so we’re off to a great start.
August saw the continuation of this dedication with significant staff and volunteer involvement supporting our annual Boot Camp. This was the second year that this was held virtually and by all accounts, it was once again a resounding success! During this time, the Association also continued to move forward on its commitment to increase staffing resources to support the programming we provide to our members. Building on the work done over the summer, the Board will meet in September for its first full length meeting. Awhile back, we had to make the decision as to whether we could actually meet in person. As much as we are all looking forward to being in the same room together, we erred on the side of caution and decided to meet virtually. Considering the situation we find
Fire Safety Considerations 26 Collectors’ Corner 28 Quarterly Question 29 Thank You Exhibitors 31 Thank You Sponsors 32
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Board of Directors President Lorraine Coughlin Vice President Nyla Attiana Secretary-Treasurer Rianna Lachance Past President Trevor Thompson
Directors at Large Julia Aspinall Jim Bauer Jeannie Bradburne Shelley Halm Kathy Humphrey Lenora Lee Tlitha Soldera
Staff Kala Harris, Executive Director Gerilee McBride, Graphic Design
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ourselves in, it was a good call. One item of discussion will be the new report from the UBCM Select Committee on Local Government Finance: “Ensuring Local Government Financial Resiliency”. This new policy paper, which is aimed at strengthening BC’s finance system for local government, focuses on the cost-drivers for three key areas: Attainable Housing; Community Safety and Climate Change. A link to the report, which will be presented at the September 2021 UBCM convention, was included in the August 30 GFOABC e-update. As our motto says, we are “Better Together” and GFOABC looks forward to working with UBCM and the Province as they work with local governments to address these challenging issues. As always, if you have any comments or suggestions on what you’d like to see from your Association, please feel free to reach out to any Board or staff member. We’d love to hear from you! Lorraine Coughlin, GFOABC President SEPTEMBER 2021 • DOLLARS & SENSE PERSPECTIVE | 3
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xcellence in Local Government Finance is a Team Sport! Finance professionals entering local government from the private sector, or other public sectors for that matter, soon realize that local government is different—not good or bad, just different. While local governments themselves can be quite unique reflecting the communities that they serve, for all new-to-local government finance professionals a big part of thriving in the local government sector ultimately comes down to understanding that local government finance is a team sport. Newcomers who find their stride quickly often to do so with a huge amount of support from their network of colleagues. For those who have attended Boot Camp over the years, the Finance Officer Development Program has provided a jumping off point for establishing not only a solid foundation in local government finance, but also establishing a network of colleagues that they can reach out to for support—support throughout the long and often unrelenting days of Boot Camp, but more importantly support through their first budget, first LGDE, first municipal election, first pandemic, etc., and indeed throughout their careers. Boot Camp is predicated on the understanding that local government is unique from the private sector and unique among other public sectors, such as universities, for example. It was developed to meet a growing need for new and not-so-new local government finance professionals to get up to speed quickly on the fundamental elements of their role, including the legislative framework in which they work. Underpinning the program however is the opportunity to build a network of colleagues from those on your team to those more
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experienced finance professionals and partners delivering the program each day. Over the course of five days, teams jump quickly from introductions to completing various challenges in pursuit of the Golden Boot. It is always interesting to see how each team initially shows up either ready for the challenge or resigned to their fate. By the third day, everyone has realized that resistance is futile. In person, attendees begin to lean into the team spirit by decorating their tables in their team colours—these can become hilarious monuments to objects representing their colours. In Zoom, team spirit is demonstrated with virtual backgrounds, props, and make-up – special shout out to Green Team for their virtual background prowess, Yellow Team for being GILTy of some bad jokes, and the entire class for the very Brady Boot Camp surprise! By the end of day five, what we hope is that everyone leaves with a solid foundation in local government finance, a network of colleagues to reach out to, had fun while doing it, and has realized that success and indeed excellence in local government finance is a team sport! Congratulations to the Green Team, winners of the coveted virtual Golden Boot, and this year’s Deb Humphrey Scholarship Award winner, Tamara Nelson from the District of Ucluelet. Thank you to the faculty and guest presenters, who shared their knowledge and expertise with this year’s Boot Camp class. And lastly, thank you to the GFOABC Boot Camp Team, Lya Iglesias, Emily Lewis and Dave Malcolm for their assistance in delivering this year’s program. Kala Harris, Excutive Director
2021 Boot Camp Class – Very Brady Boot Camp
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th a n k yo u ! Thank you to the faculty, partners and guest presenters who shared their knowledge and expertise with this year’s Boot Camp class and took the added time to strategize the virtual delivery with us.
First Row (L to R): Nyla Attiana, District of Tofino; Jeannie Bradburne, Regional District of Nanaimo; Chris Calder, Fraser-Fort George Regional District; Shelley Hahn, MFA; Kathy Humphrey, City of Kamloops; Lauren Kerr, MFA Second Row (L to R): Rianna Lachance, Capital Regional District; Chris Paine, District of Oak Bay; Mario Piroddi, BDO; Talitha Soldera, Cowichan Valley Regional District; Doug Stein, GFOABC Property Taxation Third Row: (L to R): Erin Anderson, Town of Ladysmith; Ashley Palmer, Resort Municipality of Whistler; Carolyn Gillis, Regional District of Kootenay Boundary
Partners & Guest Presenters Joshua Craig, Local Government Finance Branch, Ministry of Municipal Affairs Todd Pugh, CivicInfo Michael Spatharakis, BC Assessment Anne Graboski & Team, Property Taxation Branch, Ministry of Finance Karen Kerr, Philips Hager & North
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Prisoner of Boot Camp On-Air
“N
ow this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down. I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became a Prisoner of Boot Camp On-Air” – Green Team Boot Camp circa 2021. For those of you who know, you know, but I am not about to leak any Boot Camp secrets here. What happens in Boot Camp, stays in Boot Camp.
Boot Camp this year which was handled masterfully. Supporting Boot Campers, access to the GFOABC online application was provided that allowed Boot Campers a platform to collaborate, connect, share information, ideas and a safe space to groan and moan. The curriculum covered everything from the role of a finance officer, budgeting and financial planning, prop-
2021 Boot Camp Golden Boot Winners - Green Team: Heather Boxrud, District of Squamish; Kathy McLennan, District of Oak Bay; Manish Mehra, City of Coquitlam; Emily Mitchell, Village of Radium Hot Springs; Marleah Plesko, City of Kamloops; Suzanne Williams, Central Okanagan Regional District.
In all honesty though, GFOABC Boot Camp isn’t like being a prisoner at all, but what a week the online GFOABC Boot Camp was! Being relatively new to local government and having worked at the District of Squamish for just over a year, I certainly had some unanswered questions, many of those were answered in just one week at Boot Camp! Boot Camp is exactly what its name implies. It is short intense training, designed to provide finance officers or soon to be finance officers with the practical reality and training for local government finance. It is a fully immersed five days spanning all core subjects of local government finance. It was another Zoom
erty taxation, sources and uses of funds, and closed off with financial accounting and reporting. The materials that were provided were absolutely excellent; many Boot Camp Alumni will be using these guidebooks as reference throughout our careers. The agenda was thoughtfully laid out and the speakers were informed and well prepared to tap dance to the many questions the earnest, albeit exhausted, Boot Campers served up. The presenters were a mix of seasoned local government finance masters and industry wizards taking the time out of their busy schedules to Continued next page.
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strut their prowess and share their carefully cultivated craft with the wide-eyed and perplexed group (if you are really fortunate, you may even spot MFA’s one and only Madam Debt herself, Shelley Hahn – Legend). It wasn’t all blood sweat and tears though, there were plenty of laughs, thoughtful discussions and although the content is technical in nature, the presenters skillfully kept the Boot Campers engaged (even on Zoom!). Dare I say it, it was even fun! I would be remis not to speak to the key element that really makes Boot Camp stand out; the connections made and resources shared in that week. Even though Boot Camp 2021 was online, the team aspect and collaborative nature of Boot Camp’s curriculum and purpose shone through and really exemplifies that there is a real community amongst local government finance professionals, with GFOABC at the helm of promoting the message that ‘you are not in this alone’. I cannot speak for my fellow Boot Campers, but I left Boot Camp with a few scrapes
and bruises, but armed with connections, resources, tools and a renewed sense of empowerment, community and support. Suffice it to say, GFOABC’s Boot Camp is well worth its weight in gold for all local government finance professionals and an essential element for driving local government finance excellence. Boot Camp is an important part of any local government Finance Officer’s career development. It’s a key a resource served up in a few days, and is simply invaluable. A big thank you to the GFOABC team, presenters and Boot Campers at the 2021 GFOABC Boot Camp. I very much look forward to working with you all in the future. Let’s keep the Boot Camp momentum going and stay connected to support one another, after all, its an accrual world out there. Go Green Team!
HEATHER BOXRUD joined the District of Squamish in May 2020 as Chief Financial Officer. She earned her Master of Business Administration in 2015 from Laurentian University and CPA-CGA designation in 2010. Her previous professional focus has been in the nonprofit and private sector having worked for Tourism Whistler and Whistler.com for 12 years. Harlequin Heather was Supply Chain Officer for Team Green who were the proud recipients of the 2021 Boot Camp Golden Boot award.
2021 Boot Camp Golden Boot
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M e m b e r P r o f i le Jim Bauer interviews Nelson Chan
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arlier this summer I had an opportunity to catch up with Nelson Chan, MBA, FCPA, FCMA. Nelson was recently honoured as a Fellow by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC). He is currently the Chief Financial Officer for the Capital Region District, Capital Region Hospital District and the Capital Regional Housing Corporation in Victoria, which he has held since 2016. Nelson was born and raised in Toronto and is a first generation Canadian. Raised by immigrant parents who did not have the opportunity for post-secondary education, he believes advanced education can be an equalizer for those less privileged. Nelson completed his Bachelor of Commerce, with a minor in Economics from McMasters University before moving on to his Masters in Business Administration in the United States. He obtained his Chartered Professional Accountant Designation in 2014 and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt. He has continued his professional development by completing executive leadership programs at the University of Toronto and Royal Roads University. Although Nelson’s family upbringing encouraged defining a clear path of what you will do, he shared how he has tried a number of different industries, sectors and professions rather than specializing too early. His career began as a video game programmer for Sega Entertainment, then through a serendipitous connection grew into manufacturing operations with Roots Canada, eventually moving onto logistics, collective bargaining and strategy portfolios at Canada Post. It was at the Crown Corporation where Nelson eventually adopted an
affinity for more traditional finance related roles. Nelson feels the diversification of experiences enables him to step out of the stereotypical accountant mindset and focus on operational drivers, root cause analysis and understanding end-to-end business processes that bring greater value to organizations. Nelson shared his perspective that those in financial roles have an incredible opportunity to enable their organizations. While a traditional view of finance can be analogous to brakes in a race car, we need to champion a paradigm shift. Braking isn’t inhibiting the organization, rather, knowing there is a system that manages risk, avoids danger and prevents the race car from crashing, actually enables and allows the organization to go faster. Nelson is also intrinsically motivated by giving back, having served on a number of not for profit boards he is passionate about. This includes multiple Board terms on the Government Finance Officers Association of British Columbia, the Natural Capital Lab, Community Living BC and Royal Roads University, where Nelson has served as Chair and Chancellor since 2019. When asked about the successes of his career and insights he would impart with his colleagues, Nelson shared a few thoughts: • Large transformational changes are overwhelming. Focus on making small incremental improvements, then factor in time to leverage change in the long game. You might be surprised where you end up in a year of small, sustainable and manageable change. • Although time management is important, it is critical
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is to be engaged in the present and focus attention on the task-at-hand. It’s better to do one thing great, than three things half right. • Over the course of his career he has come to appreciate the uniqueness of local government. No other industry is interconnected with their end customers the way local government is. You, your local friends and family are also your end customers. The opportunity you have to impact how you live, work and play is unlike any other sector. Do not take this opportunity or responsibility for granted. • Lastly, have FUN! If you’re not, what’s the point?!
JIM BAUER has been with City of Penticton since October 2016, in the roles of Chief Financial Officer and General Manager, Finance and Administration. Jim provides strategic leadership in the areas of finance, information technology, land administration, human resources, communications and engagement, corporate services, procurement, business planning, and insurance and risk management. Prior to joining the City, Jim had a successful career with Alberta Public Service, where he held various senior roles in the ministries of Finance, Economic Development, Infrastructure, Solicitor General and Justice. His roles included Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer and served as an Assistant Deputy Minister for nearly ten years. Jim and his family enjoy the active outdoor lifestyle the Okanagan has to offer.
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M fa ’ s c o r n e r Integrating ESG into Financial Reporting
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enata is the Director of Technology & Strategy at MFABC, leveraging external opportunities and internal resources to achieve the MFA’s mission of supporting financial success for BC Local Governments. As a proponent of life-long learning, she is pleased to manage the MFA’s ‘third pillar’ of championing financial education for MFA stakeholders.
The last eighteen months of wide-ranging pandemic, social justice and climate change impacts have intensified interest in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors for businesses and governments alike. Historically, disclosures have been primarily financial and accountants have naturally taken a leading role in the collection and presentation of this quantitative data. ESG reporting can be both financial and non-financial, quantitative and qualitative, but regardless, is still an area in which finance teams can and will be asked to add value. Stakeholders look at ESG reporting to assess how an organization manages risks and plans for sustainable future operations. To access capital markets and fund infrastructure projects, municipalities and other levels of government are now being asked to provide such information as part of their bond market documentation. Investors and credit agencies prepare assessments of an organization’s ESG stance using materials provided by the entity or from their own analysis. They may “penalize” an organization with no or poor disclosures by downgrading their credit rating, requiring a higher rate of interest, or
by simply not purchasing the bonds issued by that organization. This information has moved from a “nice to have” to a requirement in the investment markets, reflecting a change in the importance of these issues for both risk mitigation and to society as a whole. To ensure continued access to the markets and the lowest cost of funds in Canada for our BC local governments, the MFA is responding to demonstrated market interest in ESG disclosure. In 2020, our team created a mapping tool from the Green and Social Bond Principles, as well as the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Development that describes how our clients’ projects meet these important goals. There is complexity here as there are no generally accepted standards around ESG reporting. For this important data to be relevant and comparable, these frameworks need to be streamlined with improved consistency; however, it is unclear when such clarification and consolidation may occur. In the interim, the MFA continues to work towards standardizing the local government data we request to meet these new requirements and maintain low-cost funding. Continued next page.
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Local governments may themselves be interested in understanding the ESG stance of potential investments when considering their reserve fund holdings. Such factors are therefore an element of interest on both sides of the local government ledger. The MFA has added “fossil fuel free” investment options for interested communities and shared additional ESG information for all our investment offerings. We have also begun to assess our own operations against these important principles. We are in good company, as many BC communities are also already considering these factors in the development of their strategic plans, capital asset management practices and investment policies. The MFA looks forward to collaborating with BC local governments, GFOABC and other organizations to standardize and share ESG information that supports our collective growth and success. As this is a complex topic, I urge you to read about the MFA’s approach and explore additional resources available: • MFABC 2020 Annual Report (beginning page 21) • GFOA International • CPA Canada • United Nations
e c o n o m i c u p d ate Q 3 W
e are only a few months removed from the final provincial budget landing. However, in this quick-changing, pandemic-driven economy, it feels like much longer. A lot has changed since provinces tabled their 2021/22 budgets, much of it positive as relates to future revenue streams. Vaccination rates have surged over the spring, case counts throughout most of the country are dropping, commodity prices are generally higher and the US economy is rebounding quickly to support exports. The delta variant is a concern that prevents us from raising our GDP forecasts even higher. However, even with that caution, all provinces should see economic growth and by extension provincial revenues, handily beat budget forecasts.
Those that were most cautious in their planning include British Columbia. But, with provincial bond spreads tracking rising commodity prices closely, that good news appears to be largely priced in. Since budgets were tabled, spreads have outperformed significantly, which is the ‘benchmark’ most provincial names trade off-of, owing to the size of the province’s borrowing program and liquidity of the underlying debt. A LONG ROAD BACK? Throughout the pandemic so far, the federal government has stepped up to the plate and provided provinces with extra transfers to support municipalities, cover increased health care costs and compensate for lost revenues. Because of that,
even though the aggregate provincial deficit rose from just under 1% of GDP in 2019/20 to almost 4% in 2020/21, that is obviously much less severe than the 16% of GDP deficit at the Federal level. That support from the federal government will continue in the current fiscal year. And, because a $7.2bn support package announced in late March would not have been included in many provincial budget plans, there is already scope for this year’s provincial deficits to be somewhat lighter than planned. Although we’ll argue that the actual results should be better, on aggregate the budgets planned for a slower path back to either balance, or at least the sort of deficits that were run before Covid-19 struck (Chart 1, right). Indeed, even the
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provinces that were in the best fiscal positions pre-pandemic, such as BC, are projecting modest deficits even by 2023/24 and a return to balance well beyond that point (Chart 2). The run of deficits, as well as additional borrowing for capital spending, sees most provinces forecasting jumps in sometimes already high net debt-to-GDP ratios (Chart 3). In part, the prolonged return to balance reflects the fact that government spending is expected to remain slightly higher as a proportion of GDP, even by 2023/24, when Covid-specific expenditures should have faded to zero (Chart 4). While this is more notable at the federal level (reflecting some program spending and
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also higher debt service costs due to the bigger increase in debt), there is projected to be a slight uptick at the provincial level as well. The pandemic has highlighted shortfalls in areas such as long-term care, mental health services and childcare, which a number of provinces have chosen to address. While BC is one of the provinces projecting one of the largest increases in spending as a proportion of GDP (Chart 5), those provinces that were in restraint mode previously, such as Ontario and Alberta, have lightened up on that somewhat (Chart 6) due to the aforementioned spending needs in certain areas. However, these modest increases in spending and the
long timelines back to balance shouldn’t be of too much concern to buyers of provincial bonds. For one, markets and rating agencies have already had months to digest this news and incorporate it into spreads and ratings outlooks. And importantly, the latest round of provincial budgets were based on very conservative forecasts for economic growth and by extension provincial revenues. BORROWING REQUIREMENTS HEADING LOWER Budget beats will mean that less deficit funding is required, therefore lowering the projected size of borrowing programs this year. That notion of reduced supply, which translates into lower overall debt, is the key driver of tighter spreads. Some provinces are
already seeing these improvements in their coffers. That could explain why they are allowing themselves to lag behind the pace they would need if they had to reach their budget borrowing plan. British Columbia, having more conservative assumptions, is significantly lagging having only completed 14.0% of their previously stated programs, respectively (Table 1). The releases of 2020/21 public accounts are solidifying this point. The trend of improving forecasts, which we see as our base case for many of the provinces, has us lowering our expectations for overall supply.
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CHARET CHAHAL, CFA Prior to joining CIBC Wood Gundy, Charet worked in the oil and gas sector, developing a wealth of experience in energy markets. Charet also managed and led a start-up business venture to be listed on the public exchange. Charet is an avid supporter of the Calgary Children’s Hospital.
JAMES HOBSON, CFA With over 10 years of experience at CIBC, James focuses on identifying major market themes, analyzing equity and fixed income securities, and monitoring client portfolios to ensure investment policy compliance. Among the numerous charities he assists, James is a long-time supporter and donor for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.
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JAMES HOBSON, CFA, PM, First Vice-President, Portfolio Manager, Investment Advistor & Chairman’s Council Member 403-260-0574 james.hobson@cibc.ca CHARET CHAHAL, CIM, Portfolio Manager, Investment Advisor & Chairman’s Council Memeber 403-260-0440 charet.chahal@cibc.ca This information, including any opinion, is based on various sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed and is subject to change. CIBC and CIBC World Markets Inc., their affiliates, directors, officers and employees may buy, sell, or hold a position in securities of a company mentioned herein, its affiliates or subsidiaries, and may also perform financial advisory services, investment banking or other services for, or have lending or other credit relationships with the same. CIBC World Markets Inc. and its representatives will receive sales commissions and/or a spread between bid and ask prices if you purchase, sell or hold the securities referred to above. © CIBC World Markets Inc. 2020. CIBC Wood Gundy is a division of CIBC World Markets Inc., a subsidiary of CIBC and a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. James Hobson and Charet Chahal are Investment Advisors with CIBC Wood Gundy in Calgary The views of James Hobson and Charet Chahal do not necessarily reflect those of CIBC World Markets Inc. If you are currently a CIBC Wood Gundy client, please contact your Investment Advisor. Clients are advised to seek advice regarding their particular circumstances from their personal tax and legal advisors.
Reserve Funds – Refresher & Review of Pandemic Implications
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his article will briefly discuss the different types of reserve funds, how money in reserve funds can be used and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on reserve borrowing. The Community Charter authorizes a council at their discretion to establish optional reserve funds for any specified purpose and mandates a council to establish certain reserve funds for purposes listed in the Community Charter. A council can set up optional reserve funds for any capital or operational expenditure by bylaw and can also set up policies for the funding sources and uses of the reserve funds. Those policies, however, cannot change the specified purpose of the reserve fund. The Community Charter obliges a council to establish a reserve fund for development cost charges (“DCCs”), park land, highway access to water, off-street parking and capital assets.1 Notwithstanding that these funds are statutory requirements, the reserve funds must be established through bylaw. Money in a reserve fund, including the interest earned, must only be used for the purpose for which the fund was established.2 The Community Charter allows transfers between two reserve funds established for capital purposes; however, a transfer from a DCC or parkland acquisition reserve fund must be in a bylaw with ministerial approval.3 The municipality must repay the borrowed monies “no later than the time when the money is needed for the purposes of that [lending] reserve fund”.4 The Community Charter and Local Government Act prohibit borrowing from a reserve fund for operating purposes such as revenue anticipation borrowing or other similar forms of liquidity management. With that said, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some adjustments to override the normal rule that capital reserves may only be used, even temporarily, for capital purposes. 1 Community Charter, SBC 2003, c 26, s. 188(2). 2 Ibid., s. 189. 3 Ibid., s. 189(5). 4 Ibid., s. 189(4.2).
Ministerial Order 159 allowed municipalities, regional districts and improvement districts, in 2020, to borrow from reserve funds (interest-free) to cover an operational shortfall in 2020. No bylaw was required to authorize such a borrowing. Borrowed funds must be repaid, without interest, by December 31, 2025. Any amount unpaid after that time, must be added as a transfer to reserves under the 2026 financial plan (or budget or estimates) together with a 5% penalty. On June 1, 2021, Bill 10-2021: Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, 2021, received its third reading. These changes will ensure extraordinary financial measures and corresponding repayment obligations under COVID Ministerial Order 159 will continue to have legal effect after its expiration date. Bill 10-2021 carries the language from Ministerial Order 159 (e.g., the five-year repayment of reserve fund borrowing) into a more permanent legislative framework. These changes aim to support local governments to recover from the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide tools for local governments to respond to future special circumstances.
AMY O’CONNOR joined Young Anderson as an associate in June of 2019. She maintains a broad municipal law practice, with particular interests in freedom of information and privacy law.
ALEXANDRA GREENBERG has earned her LL.B with Honours and LL.M at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In 2020, she obtained her LL.M. (CL) at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. SEPTEMBER 2021 • DOLLARS & SENSE PERSPECTIVE | 17
Integrating Climate Change into Asset Management Planning
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ust as the practice of asset management has been widely adopted among Canadian municipalities, climate change adaptation has become more essential as extreme weather events and a changing climate threaten the resilience of communities. Like the discipline of asset management, climate change adaptation shares an overarching goal of achieving sustainable service delivery and aligns with the core elements of the asset management framework. Figure 2: Pillars of a standard asset management framework that adheres to best practices set forth by ISO 55,000 and the Institute of Asset Management
Figure 1: Similarities between AM and Climate Change Adaptation
Because of their similarities, municipalities looking to incorporate climate change adaptation measures into their organization can do so by integrating measures into their existing asset management framework. ASSESSMENT STAGE The Assessment Stage of the asset management framework requires municipal organizations to consider the ways in which their policies and procedures facilitate an effective and productive program. The asset management policy can be revisited or developed to include a commitment to integrating and addressing climate change adaptation, along with establishing the personnel – such as environmental staff – that have expert understanding of climate change adaptation to facilitate and endorse measures throughout the program.
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Figure 3: Incorporating climate change considerations into an asset management policy
The asset management strategy assesses the capacity, knowledge and processes of an organization’s asset management program. Likewise, the strategy can also assess an organization’s climate change adaptation measures to identify gaps in implementation and how to better prioritize climate change adaptation objectives. PLANNING STAGE The planning stage of the asset management framework includes elements related to data and information, condition assessments and key processes such as risk assessment, lifecycle management and the definition of levels of service.
Asset data is a fundamental element of any asset management strategy; by further including historical climate data in an asset inventory, organizations are better positioned to capture the impacts climate change has on their infrastructure systems. Data such as precipitation levels, water levels, average temperatures and past extreme weather events based on geographical location will help an organization to anticipate which assets are most susceptible to climate change and the costs associated. When conducting condition assessments of your assets, also consider exposure, vulnerability, resilience and adaptation factors to assess the impact that climate change may have on your infrastructure system.
Incorporating these four factors will enable your organization to conduct more robust risk assessments and can also be incorporated into lifecycle management and level of service frameworks. For example, a change in climate may require different maintenance and rehabilitation requirements during the lifecycle of certain assets to maintain their function during extreme weather events. Similarly, the types of material used for assets may need to change as assets are exposed to new temperatures and climates. IMPLEMENTATION STAGE By incorporating climate change adaptation considerations into asset management frameworks, organizations can create financial strategies for their infrastructure systems that reveal the true costs to maintain assets now and well into the future. Integrating adaptation measures into asset management programs will better ensure that municipal organizations are able to uphold sustainable service delivery in an era of a changing climate.
Figure 4: Four major conceptual factors in assessing climate change impact and adaptation of an infrastructure system JOHN MURRAY is the General Manager of Strategy & Performance at PSD Citywide, overseeing the development and implementation of asset management programs/plans for local governments and public sector organizations. As a leader in asset management, he facilitates knowledge exchange and collaboration with municipal experts and industry leaders nationally and internationally.
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Budget Book Vs. Financial Statements: What’s Worse?
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inance professionals in government and education have several daunting (frustrating, annoying, I could go on...) reporting challenges to address each year:
All of this content means more work. More tables, more text and more numbers that must reconcile.
• the Annual Audited Financial Report,
2) CONSIDERABLE EMPHASIS ON NON-FINANCIAL DATA For the most part, financial statements are focused on financial data. There are text portions (the policies and notes), but even then, they are either relatively static (e.g., your revenue recognition policy is not changing year-by-year) or primarily about details of the financial data. In contrast, it is very common for the budget book to contain hundreds of pages of narrative. Large narrative discussions of the following are required of GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award Program participants in a budget book:
• the Budget Book and • some special purpose reports like the Local Government Data Entry (LGDE) forms. While automating the annual financial statements is generally recognized as a major win for your finance team, perhaps an even bigger win is automating the budget book. To an outsider, this might be a surprise. Isn’t going through an audit the worst thing possible? Admittedly, it’s not a lot of fun and yes, it is incredibly time-consuming; but the budget book is worse. Here’s why… 1) MUCH MORE CONTENT How long are your annual financial statements? For many of our clients (governments, universities & colleges, large publicly traded companies) a typical set of statements include: • a cover page • a table of contents • 4 statements • 20–30 notes • 4–6 schedules All told, the report is perhaps 30 pages. A budget book (sometimes called the “financial plan”) is almost always much larger. 200 or 300 pages is actually a small budget document. For those clients that participate in the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards program, their guidelines tend to result in very large budget books. Some even approach 1,000 pages!
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• the budget process, • entity-wide long-term financial policies, • organizational charts, • descriptions of the organization, its community, the population and background information related to the services provided. Why does this make the process harder? More content means more page breaks, a larger table of contents, more pages to number, etc. In short, it means more elements to have problems with. Secondly, much of this narrative changes year after year, necessitating a process of collecting, organizing and updating hundreds of pages of content. 3) GRAPHS & PICTURES Annual Financial Statements rarely include graphs & pictures. They tend to be very utilitarian documents, comprised almost exclusively of tables of data and a few pages of narrative in the notes section. Very few of our clients even add a logo or picture to the cover page!
Contrast this with the budget book. The vast majority of these documents contain many graphical elements, including: • organization charts • graphs • pictures of ongoing projects, the finance team, local wildlife, etc. A quick review of one budget book for one of our clients showed that in 425 pages, there were nearly 300 graphical elements! Just like the challenges listed above in large narrative sections, graphical elements must be managed and updated year after year. To make matters worse, consider that many finance professionals are not expert in how to use graphical elements to maximize communication effectiveness. 4) A MUCH BROADER COLLABORATION In most organizations, assembling the annual financial statements is primarily the task of the core finance team. While dozens of folks may contribute reconciliations and supporting documents, perhaps only a handful of people contribute to the statements directly. For the budget book, dozens or even hundreds of people contribute to that huge volume of text we mentioned earlier. It might only be a few paragraphs per person, but it seems like every Tom, Dick & Wendy contribute to the budget book content. That means the team that assembles the book needs to track who is contributing to each section. Then they need to know if that individual provided their content yet and when they do someone has to make sure that it gets reviewed, approved and finally correctly inserted into the end report. That is a lot of little steps which must be repeated potentially hundreds of times to arrive at the completed book.
THE END RESULT The end result of these four points is one absolute fact. If your budget document is hundreds of pages bigger than your financial statements, budget book automation will be an incrediblyvaluable accomplishment for your organization.
JAMIE BLACK is President of F.H. Black & Company Incorporated. For the last 25 years, he has consulted and trained finance officers, auditors & accountants in government, higher education, and corporations throughout Canada and the U.S. His work focuses on increasing finance department efficiency and effectiveness through the implementation of technology and improved business processes.
SEPTEMBER 2021 • DOLLARS & SENSE PERSPECTIVE | 21
Employment Benefits
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ot off the press! The Public Sector Accounting Board released in July an exposure draft for employee benefits. Comments to PSAB on proposed Section PS 3251 are due by November 25, 2021. Proposed Section PS 3251 would apply to fiscal years beginning on or after April 1, 2026 and should be applied retroactively. Earlier adoption is permitted. The proposed PS3251 would replace existing Section PS 3250, Retirement Benefits and Section PS 3255, PostEmployment Benefits, Compensated Absences and Termination Benefits. What is particularly notable is that this Exposure Draft leverages the principles from International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) 39, Employment Benefits, as a starting point. The Employment Benefits exposure draft is the first to formally start with IPSAS principles as a foundation for standards development, consistent with PSAB’s international strategy approved late in 2020. The guidance in the proposed PS 3251 would apply to formal benefit plans and arrangements; informal practices creating a constructive obligation; and benefits provided under legislative requirements or industry arrangements, including joint defined benefit plans and multi-employer plans like the Municipal Pension Plan.
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This proposed section would result in public sector entities recognizing the impact of revaluations of the net defined benefit liability (asset) immediately on the statement of financial position. Public sector entities would also assess the funding status of their post-employment benefit plans to determine the appropriate rate for discounting post-employment benefit obligations. Some highlights of the proposed Section PS 3251: Consistent with existing practice, the proposed PS 3251 distinguishes the accounting for defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans. For defined contribution plans, when an employee has rendered service to a public sector entity during a period, the public sector entity should recognize the contribution payable as a liability (net of contributions already paid), and as an expense. For defined benefit plans, public sector entities use the projected unit credit method to determine the present value of defined benefit obligations and the related current service cost and, where applicable, past service cost. Public sector entities must recognize the components of defined benefit cost, including service cost in surplus or deficit; net interest on the net defined benefit
liability (asset) in surplus or deficit; and revaluations of the net defined benefit liability (asset) in net assets. Revaluations of the net defined benefit liability (asset) recognized in net assets should not be reclassified to surplus or deficit in a subsequent period. A public sector entity should classify a multi-employer plan as a defined contribution plan or a defined benefit plan under the terms of the plan. If a public sector entity participates in a multi-employer defined benefit plan, it must account for its proportionate share of the defined benefit obligation unless sufficient information is not available. In British Columbia, local governments are members of the Municipal Pension Plan, which is a multi-employer defined benefit plan. Local governments presently account for the plan using defined contribution accounting, as plan deficits/ surpluses are not split between employers. It is not expected that this accounting would change under the proposed PS 3251. Based on the Exposure Draft, defined benefit plans that share risks among various public sector entities under common control are not considered multi-employer plans. How the net benefit costs for the plan are accounted for depends on the contractual
arrangement for the shared risk plan. Where there is a contractual agreement or policy for charging the net defined benefit cost for the plan to individual public sector entities within the government reporting entity, the costs should be recognized in the financial statements of each individual public sector entity. Otherwise, the net defined benefit cost would be recognized in the financial statements of the controlling public sector entity for the plan, and participating controlled public sector entities would account for the plan as a defined contribution plan in their financial statements. Proposed Section PS 3251 provides guidance on actuarial assumptions related to matters such as mortality; salaries, benefits and medical costs; and discount rate linked to funding status. Local governments and regional districts are encouraged to provide their input on this very impactful standard before November 25th. The PSAB project summary and the exposure draft can be found HERE.
BAILEY CHURCH leads the National Public Sector Accounting Advisory service line at KPMG. He has an extensive background serving the Government of Canada, provincial governments, crown corporations, municipalities, not-for-profit organizations and for-profit entities pursuing significant transactions with public sector entities. auditing matters within the public sector environment.
SEPTEMBER 2021 • DOLLARS & SENSE PERSPECTIVE | 23
Using Insurance to Set Your Business Continuity Plan Up for Success
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nsuring that your local government has proper business interruption coverage is essential to any business continuity plan (BCP). By understanding your coverage, you maximize the effectiveness of a BCP when an unexpected insured loss occurs. Like property coverage, business interruption coverage is intended to restore you to your pre-loss position. It covers the extra expenses and loss of income your local government may incur if a facility is shut down for repair or rebuild due to a loss, until it is able to resume normal business operations or for the time it would have been reasonably necessary to repair, rebuild or replace the asset. Let’s say the City of Dreams has a municipal hall and recreation facility operating at the same location. The City operates at this location with dozens of staff and leases part of it to commercial tenants. The recreation facility is also rented to the public for birthday parties and weddings. Unexpectedly, a fire damaged both buildings and it will take over 18 months to rebuild. While the City was diligent with keeping its location values up to date, it hadn’t updated its business interruption coverage for years. The City only has a $500,000 business interruption limit that can be paid for a maximum of 12 months. Because of the loss, the City has incurred costs to reduce the disruption to operations, including leasing new workspace. The City is also losing income because it isn’t collecting rent or facility rental fees. Unfortunately, the City’s coverage is insufficient because its extra expenses and income loss exceeds the policy limit and the interruption will continue beyond the policy’s period of indemnity. To ensure that your local government has sufficient business interruption coverage, we recommend reviewing your property insurance policies annually. When reviewing coverage, look at:
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• Limits – Your limits will depend on your projected loss of income and any extra expenses you will incur from a loss. Often, local governments only review their rental income when determining their limits, which might be significantly less than income generated from sale of services such as recreation. • Period of Indemnity – This is the maximum amount of time the coverage will help pay for business interruption. It is expressed in months and usually ranges from 12 to 36 months. A small facility may take a year or less to rebuild or repair, but a large building could take years. Your period of indemnity should reflect the time it will take to recover. • Waiting Periods – Some policies specify the number of days that you must wait before coverage is triggered to ensure there is a real interruption to operations, rather than a short, temporary shutdown. These waiting periods may differ in certain circumstances. Local governments should pay attention to their business interruption coverage not only under their property insurance policy, but also their equipment breakdown policy, which insures against losses caused by electrical arcing, mechanical breakdown and explosion of boilers and pressure vessels. Your insurance provider can walk you through your business interruption coverage so don’t hesitate to reach out for assistance.
MARINA SEN became the MIABC’s first licensed insurance broker when the Insurance Department was created in April 2014, playing a key role in the development and implementation of the MIABC’s Property Insurance Program and the establishment of the MIABC’s brokerage arm, Civic Risk Insurance Solutions. In addition to her hands-on insurance experience, she has also obtained the Charted Insurance Professional, Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker and Canadian Risk Management designations.
How to Prevent and Respond to a Ransomware Attack
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n recent months we’ve seen many high-profile attacks that have targeted government agencies, critical infrastructure and food processing plants. North America has seen a significant increase in ransomware attacks between 2019 and 2020 and this will continue to trend upwards as more organizations and services become interconnected. No organization large or small is immune to an attack and the threat of attack is very real. What makes ransomware attacks so appealing to cybercriminals is the simplicity to execute, lucrative paydays and little chance of being caught. WHAT YOU CAN DO TO REDUCE A RANSOMWARE ATTACKER’S CHANCES OF INFILTRATING YOUR NETWORK The computers and information on which we rely are under constant threat from disruptive and potentially destructive ransomware. Ransomware attacks can have significant financial, reputational and operational impact to your organization. While no organization can be fully protected from such an attack, the good news is your organization can implement various measures to reduce the chances of an attacker getting access to your network and data. MEASURES TO PUT IN PLACE TO HELP THWART RANSOMWARE: • Implement anti virus or advanced endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions
• Use security products or services that block access to known ransomware sites Even if an organization implements all of the necessary controls and processes, there is still no guarantee your organization is 100% secure. It is critical that organizations establish strong resilience and redundancy through preparation and planning to minimize the impact of an attack and ensure quick recovery. YOUR ORGANIZATION HAS FALLEN PREY TO A RANSOMWARE ATTACK, NOW WHAT? • Backup, Secure and segment your critical data • Test your ability to recover from your backups • Develop and test an Incident Response Plan • Consider engaging third party cyber forensic, communications and legal expertise Ransomware attacks will continue to rise and cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated. It’s not a matter of if, but when an attack will occur. Organizations must work towards decreasing the attack surface, so they can’t be easily exploited and come across as an easy target to attackers. Organizations need to be resilient in their ability to prevent, detect and be ready to respond should an attack occur by employing a multilayered defence strategy.
• Train & test employees on cybersecurity • Implement email protections & URL filtering • Patch & update your systems • Securely harden and regularly scan exposed systems & applications for vulnerabilities • Establish strong access & authentication controls • Restrict the use of personal applications • Restrict & monitor privileged accounts • Disable unnecessary services and system accounts
VIVEK GUPTA, MBA, CISA, CDPSE, CEH is a Partner in BDO’s Toronto office, with over 16 years of professional experience in providing cybersecurity, digital forensics, IT risk and compliance related services to various clients in direct support of their business objectives. His experience spans multiple industry sectors including Financial Services, Energy, Public, NPO, Healthcare, Technology and Retail. SEPTEMBER 2021 • DOLLARS & SENSE PERSPECTIVE | 25
Fire Safety Considerations
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rom the intense heat dome in June to the hundreds of wildfires that continue to burn out of control across much of the southern half of British Columbia, the province has been hard hit by the tragic impacts of climate change this summer. While wildfires are nothing new for B.C., the frequency and severity of fires are increasing. And it’s only going to get worse — most communities that are threatened by wildfires are in regions whose burn areas are projected to increase by 50-200% due to climate change, according to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. For municipalities, risk management must include climate risk management. And in B.C., that means taking steps to protect residents from wildfires. By increasing the number of natural infrastructure assets, implementing climate mitigation tools, investing in research and promoting education and awareness, municipalities can begin to build resiliency. According to FireSmart Canada, there are many steps a municipality can take, from easy and inexpensive actions to more complex projects: NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS Deploying landscape and vegetation management techniques to create a community fire guard such as:
PRIORITY EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEMS NEEDS Educating and offering incentives or subsidies to homeowners, businesses and vulnerable community members to install equipment such as:
• Planting fire-resistant trees and drought-tolerant plants
• fire-retardant roofing
• Creating fuel-reduced buffer zones
• non-combustible screens and safeguards
• Clearing vegetation to create firebreaks
• Improving access to dependable water supply such as portable wildfire pumps and water tanks
• Digging trenches to create fuel breaks • Implementing native or traditional fire management activities such as cultural burns
• fire-resistant siding
• Securing fire suppression and on-site firefighting equipment such as firefighting gear, hoses and nozzles, sprinkler systems • Securing propane relocation equipment
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AWARENESS AND EDUCATION • Enhancing fire safety APPS to account for wellness checks • Distributing home wildfire protection materials to residents • Educating/raising awareness among local businesses, commercial operations and developers to improve fire resiliency of their buildings and developments • Providing interface fire risk assessments with landowners in hazardous areas Climate resilience requires an all of society approach. To help municipalities adapt to extreme weather and keep communities safe, Intact Public Entities and the Intact Foundation are launching the Municipal Climate Resiliency Grant program on October 1. We’re investing $1 million in cities and towns that are developing practical and effective solutions to protect their communities from floods or wildfires. For more information about the grants, please contact: Intact.Foundation@intact.net.
LARRY RYAN is the President of Intact Public Entities and possesses a unique perspective on the municipal insurance environment. Larry has worked in the municipal sector for over 25 years, previously as the CFO for a large Ontario municipality.
PAULA GARRECHT is a Partner, Commercial Risk Advisor and Leader of the Municipal Insurance Division, CapriCMW Insurance Services Ltd. Paula has been a licenced insurance broker since 1980 and is a Chartered Insurance Professional in the Insurance Institute of Canada as well as a Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker.
SEPTEMBER 2021 • DOLLARS & SENSE PERSPECTIVE | 27
c o l le c t o r s ’ c o r n e r The Psychology of Property Taxes
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’m not a psychologist. I was a humble tax collector who had the opportunity to observe people’s behaviour, particularly when it came to property taxes. When a homeowner receives their property tax notice, they might say “Well, my municipality is a good place to live. I get good value for my money. And a small tax increase is understandable.” However, another reaction might be “What! I can’t believe this tax increase! What am I getting for my money?” No one really likes to pay taxes, but if they include their property taxes with their monthly mortgage payment or we encourage them to enroll in the monthly automatic withdrawal option, then paying taxes doesn’t seem to be that bad—out of sight- out of mind. And then there’s tax sale. Tracking down delinquent taxpayers can be a real challenge and when you do their reaction may be one of shock, guilt, embarrassment, or fear. Let’s look at the tax sale advertisement. The ad serves several purposes. It is a legislative requirement, a method of contacting the owner and a notification to the general public of the potential tax sale auction. The challenge is what size
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to make the ad and where to place it in the newspaper. If a large ad is placed on page 2, then it will get more attention than if it was a small ad on the second last page. The ad can be a full page even if there are only a few properties subject to tax sale. That certainly would attract a lot of attention, with the commensurate phone inquiries “What is this tax sale that you’re advertising?” and potentially a large attendance at the auction. A small ad on the back page would hardly get any attention and defeat the purpose of trying to contact the owner. So, is our purpose to attract a lot of attention for the auction in order to raise the bid price (surplus) in favour of the owner? Or on the other hand, is it to discourage third-party purchasers so that the municipality will be the default purchaser which could be in favour of the owner? Also, many people have clued into the provision of getting interest on their “deposit” if they don’t obtain the property—for a fraction of its value. The tax sale auction is also required by legislation. What rules of the auction are you going make such as: will you accept an uncertified cheque from the purchaser, or
when must payment be made? What is the method of auctioneering: three calls on a final bid with the bid raised by the bidders or suggestion (incremental) bidding? The rules of auction that you determine will affect how people behave. These are just a few examples of how property taxes affect people’s behaviour. But I must say that dealing with taxpayers was the best part of being a tax collector.
DOUG STEIN has worked in municipal finance for over 30 years. In 2011 he retired from his position as Manager of Revenue Services for the District of Saanich. Doug leads the Collectors’ Forum, is a GFOABC Life Member, and a CPA, CMA.
CIVICINFOBC CIVICINFOBC
q u a rte r ly q u estio n
Purchasing Cards & Corporate Cards...in Local Governments
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he June Quarterly Question explored how local governments use purchasing and corporate cards for their purchasing needs. 39% of BC local governments responded to this survey. All but one of the 73 respondents reported using either purchasing cards, corporate cards or both. All local governments reported that cards are provided for the use of exempt staff, while 57.5% provide cards to non-exempt or union staff. Limits on exempt staff cards ranged from $1,000 to $40,000 with an average limit of $9,096, and median of $6,250. While the limits on non-exempt or union staff range from $400 to $30,000 with an average limit of $4,750, and median of $2,500. For elected officials, fewer cards were allocated. One out of nine Regional Districts reported supplying cards to their Board. 39% of municipalities supply a card to the mayor and 8% supply cards to councillors. Limits on cards held by mayors range from $1,000 to $15,000 with an average limit of $5,667, while the limits on councillor’s cards range from $2,500 to $7,000 with an average limit of $5,000. Local governments used a variety of institutions to meet their needs. The Bank of Montreal and Credit Unions were the most popular choices among respondents. Neary 57% of all local governments took advantage of some sort of credit card reward, while 43% receive no reward. The greatest variation in the survey was in relation to purchase order policies. 48% of local governments either had no policy or excluded card purchases from the existing policy, there were still 8% that required a purchase order for all purchases. The remaining 44% had limits ranging from $200 to $5,000 before a purchase order is required. The purchasing policies collected will appear in the CivicInfo BC Document library
Continued next page.
SEPTEMBER 2021 • DOLLARS & SENSE PERSPECTIVE | 29
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quarterly question THE NEXT QUARTERLY QUESTION: E V C H A R G I N G S TAT I O N S APLEASE USE THIS LINK TO BE A PART OF THE RESULTS OF THE NEXT QUARTERLY QUESTION. YOUR PEERS WILL THANK YOU! The survey should only take about 3–5 minutes to complete. The responses to this question will be profiled in the next GFOABC Newsletter. If you have a topic for a future quarterly question, please contact the office at office@gfoabc.ca or (250) 382-6871
If you would like to learn more about this free service, contact CivicInfoBC at info@civicinfo.bc.ca
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