PERIOD REPORT
DATE: September 28, 2026 Report No. FIN-26-020
TO: Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Ian Irvine, Director of Financial Services
SUBJECT:TITLE Financial Services and Information Technology Departments - 2026 Second Period Report
Body
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Financial Services and Information Technology Departments from May 1, 2026 to August 31, 2026.
1. DIVISION ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Reporting
• The 2025 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 2025 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.
• There has been an accelerated effort to set up suppliers and other payees via electronic fund transfer (EFT) since the ability was established in 2023. Currently only 16% of payments are made by cheque and this has resulted in cost and time savings within the finance department.
Property Taxation
The following property tax statistics are analysed each year, and the 2026 results remain consistent with the previous two years.
• Property tax folios fully collected as of July 2 - 71.3%; August 31 - 94.6%.
• Homeowner grants claimed as of September 1, 2026 - 4,221.
• The total number of deferments and the related payments dropped by 41% from last year. While the reason for the significant decrease is unknown, it is suspected that it could be related to changes in the program made by the provincial government.
• An amount of $23,572,491 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 $56,008 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 2026 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 2 properties which will be sold at a public auction if delinquent amounts are not received prior to September 28.
• During the period of July 3 and September 1 there were 266 regular and 150 additional homeowner 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 $27,837, which represents a 14% increase from the amount forgiven in the 2025 taxation year.
• The Township continues to provide online functionality for property tax payments by credit card. For the 2026 taxation year, taxpayers made 315 payments totalling $1,153,076 through the online application. This represents a 15% increase in number of payments and a 48% increase in the amounts collected when compared to the 2025 taxation year.
Information Technology
• Help desk tickets increased from 669 to 730 which represents a 9% increase over the same period in 2025.
• Esquimalt’s AI usage policy was officially released with staff given access to approved applications that are centralized and monitored on our network.
• The primary firewalls in the municipal hall were replaced as the previous versions were reaching end of life. As the first line of security, these firewall updates ensure that the network remains secure.
2. COMMITTEES
As multi-year permissive tax exemptions were previously reviewed and approved by Council, there was no Local Grant Committee meeting held during this period.