PERIOD REPORT
DATE: January 27, 2025 Report No. FIN-25-002
TO: Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Ian Irvine, Director of Financial Services
SUBJECT:TITLE Financial Services and IT Departments - 2025 Third Period Report
Body
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Financial Services and Information Technology Departments from September 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.
I. DIVISION ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
1. Budgeting Accounting and Financial Reporting
• In preparation for the 2025-2029 Financial Plan, capital and operating budget information was submitted by each department. Financial information was reviewed and consolidated in preparation for presentation to Council during the first period of 2025.
• Interim audit work by the Township’s auditors was completed during November. The year end requirements, reconciliations and analyses are being completed in preparation for the annual financial statement audit scheduled for March and April 2025.
• The ability to remit amounts to suppliers and other payees via electronic fund transfer was implemented. The timing of this initiative was accelerated due to the postal strike and the impact that had on the receipt of vendor invoices and the issuance of cheque payments. To date, approximately 40% of payees have been set up and this number will increase as future invoices are received.
2. Property Taxation
• As of December 31, 2024, more than 96% of all folios were paid in full and almost 92% of the total tax levy was collected. These numbers were slightly lower than previous years due to the postal strike and the inability to send reminder notices to all property owners with outstanding taxes.
• The total 2024 amount received from Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) for Property in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) was $31,604 more than the budgeted amount. This is impacted by the federal leases on the PILT properties that were not previously included in the 2024 application.
• All delinquent property taxes were fully collected prior to the tax sale deadline and, as a result, the Township did not hold a tax sale at the end of September.
• Under the alternative tax scheme in place, penalties relating to homeowner grants claimed between July 3 and September 1 were reversed. During this period, 384 regular and additional homeowner grants were claimed which resulted in penalties of $26,150 being reversed.
• This is the second full year that the Township provided online functionality for property tax credit card payments. For the 2024 year, taxpayers made 229 payments totalling $544,695 through the online application. This represented a 38% increase in the number of payments and a 52% increase in the total payments received.
3. Information Technology
• The Municipal Hall uninterruptible power supply (UPS) has been upgraded and all significant components have been replaced. The UPS, which powers the Township’s main datacenter, had reached the end of its life and this upgrade will ensure reliable operations for at least the next 12 years.
• Based on a recent risk assessment, the lack of segmentation between workstations and servers was addressed. Similar to an internal firewall, this segmentation now limits access to specific applications on each server based on individual user requirements.
• Completed a full version upgrade of the Township’s phone system to ensure continued vendor support. This upgrade was coordinated with staff and resulted in minimum service disruption.
• A cyber incident response plan was developed and shared with the leadership team. The feedback received will help with the planning and preparation of a tabletop exercise scheduled for the first period of 2025.
• Closed service calls during the period increased by 25% over the previous period and by 72% by the same period in 2023. While the call volume did not drastically change, the department now records all service calls, including those received in person or over the telephone.
4. Departmental Staffing
• Following approval within the 2024 financial plan, a new Senior Accountant and an IT Support Analyst were added to increase departmental capacity. To accommodate the new employee additions, the Finance and IT departments were reconfigured to improve the ergonomics, operational effectiveness and employee satisfaction
• In response to staff departures, a new Finance Manager and a Payroll and Benefits Administrator were hired. With these additions, the finance department is now back to its full staff complement.
II. COMMITTEES
• The Local Grant Committee met in September to review Permissive Tax Exemption applications for the 2025 taxation year. Recommendations were made by the Committee to grant exemptions at varying percentages for not for profit organizations and places of worship. These recommendations were reviewed and approved by Council and the bylaws were adopted in advance of the October 31 deadline.