Addington Highlands in good shape financially says auditor

Craig Bakay | Jul 04, 2018

“Your debt load is under control and you seem to be managing your expenses well,” Secker, Ross & Perry accountant Adam Young told Addington Highlands Council at its regular meeting Tuesday in Flinton.

Young was presenting Council with its draft financial statements for 2017.

“There haven’t been many great accounting changes for this year so we’d expect to see much the same as we usually do — which we did,” he said.

He said that at the end of the day, assets are up by over $1 million and while taxes were down “just a tick, and we’re comfortable with the direction you’re moving in.”

And while reserves and expenses are in relatively good shape, there is one thing looming in the not-too-distant future.

“Closing dumps is expensive,” said Coun. Bill Cox. “Do you think we’re stable in that?”

“Of the seven landfills you had, you closed two,” said Young. “You’re not going to see 20 more years out of Kaladar.”

Having said that, Young didn’t have a definitive answer on what closing the Kaladar landfill site might cost.

“You never know what the liabilities will be like until you get to the closing,” he said. “Buckshot Lake cost less than we expected but you can’t count on that.

“Kaladar likely won’t cost a million but it will be a lot more than $500,000.”

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Addington Highlands has joined the e-revolution by moving to electronic agendas.

The July meeting was the first to use the iPad technology but the agenda itself isn’t available on the website just yet.

CAO/Clerk-Treasurer Christine Reed said she expects the online agendas to be “live” for the August meeting.

Some of Council appeared a little unsure about the changes but not Coun. Bill Cox.

“I love this,” Cox said. “I’ve been advocating to get this for 10 years.”

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Council approved a noise bylaw exemption for the Flinton Jamboree.

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Following a report on energy consumption required by O Reg 397 11, the two facilities that use the most energy in Addington Highlands are the Flinton Hall (not including the Township Offices) and the Denbigh Garage, which also uses a lot of propane.