PERIOD REPORT
DATE: September 29, 2025 Report No. FIN-25-010
TO: Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Ian Irvine, Director of Financial Services
SUBJECT:TITLEFinancial Services and IT Departments - 2025 Second Period ReportBody
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Financial Services and Information Technology Departments from May 1, 2025 to August 31, 2025.
I. DIVISION ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
1. Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Reporting
• The 2024 financial statements were approved by Council in May. The Township’s auditors, KPMG, addressed Council regarding the statements and outlined the basis for their clean audit opinion.
• The Township's 2024 Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) was approved by Council in June and was forwarded to the provincial government in advance of the annual statutory reporting deadline.
• The ability to remit amounts to suppliers and other payees via electronic fund transfer (EFT) was implemented. The timing of this initiative was accelerated due to the postal strike in late 2024 and the impact that had on the receipt of vendor invoices and the issuance of cheque payments. To date, approximately 85% of payees have been set up and this number will increase as future invoices are received. Additionally, the process has migrated from a weekly occurrence to a bi-weekly occurrence, making it a more efficient and consistent process.
• In preparation for the 2026-2030 Financial Plan, instructions were provided to all departments to assist with operating and capital budget entry. This is intended to provide sufficient time for the budget consolidation and presentation to Council in October.
2. Property Taxation
The following property tax statistics are analysed each year, and the 2025 results remain consistent with the previous two years.
• Property tax folios fully collected as of July 2 - 71.3%; August 31 - 94.6%.
• Total deferments - 545, including 492 renewals, totalling $2,926,417.
• Home owner grants claimed as of August 31 - 3,961.
• An amount of $22,419,053 was received from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) for payment in lieu of taxes. This amount, which consists of the municipal amount and those amounts collected on behalf of third parties, is approximately $5,300 less than the amount in the Township’s application. The Township does not anticipate receiving any additional payments during the year and due to the potential costs, an appeal in 2025 is not anticipated.
• Efforts have been made to collect all delinquent property taxes with the intention of avoiding a tax sale. At the date of preparation of this report, there are 3 properties which will be sold at a public auction if amounts are not received prior to September 29.
• During the period of July 3 and September 3 there were 218 regular and 144 additional home owner grants claimed. In these instances, the associated 10% penalty was reversed in accordance with the Township’s alternate tax collection scheme bylaw. The total amount reversed was $24,329, which represents a similar amount to the 2024 taxation year.
• The Township continues to provide online functionality for property tax payments by credit card. For the 2025 year, taxpayers made 275 payments totalling $779,066 through the online application. This represents a similar amount to the 2024 taxation year.
3. Information Technology
• Biweekly meetings with CorePM project managers have been proactively established to review and approve the IT setup for the new Public Safety building. This ensures that technology plans align with Township needs from the start, helping to save time and money by selecting the right systems and equipment during the initial build, rather than having costly changes after occupancy.
• A new mobility agreement was negotiated in September which resulted in a larger device credit for new phone purchases. The device credit is used to offset the upfront cost of buying new phones for staff and was previously not keeping up with rising costs. This change will expand the ability to select newer phone models in keeping up with technology and security changes, as we were limited to pre-owned models with the old agreement.
• Closed service calls during the period increased by 5% over the previous period. While the call volume did not drastically change, the department now records all service calls, including those received in person or over the telephone.
II. COMMITTEES
• There were no committees held during the second period.