2001Year-End Report Corporate Services

Report- 1 -

January 31, 2002

2001Year-end Report – Corporate Services

REPORT

Town of Tillsonburg

DATE:January 31, 2002

TO:David C. Morris, CAO

No:011231 corporate admin year end report

FROM:Lynn S. Buchner, CGA, AMCT, Director of Corporate Services

RE:2001 Year-end Report – Corporate Services

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to present a year-end report of the activities and financial position of Corporate Services for the year ended June 30, 2001.

BACKGROUND

Each of the Managers have prepared and presented to Senior Management reports for their respective service or program for the year ended December 31, 2001. Preparation of the reports involved a review of the 2001 Business Plan identifying the status of the goals and objectives contained in the Plans and any issues that may have otherwise come up. The Reports also provide a summary of the financial position for the service or program and specifically mention any areas of concern or those that might be of general interest to Council or the Public. The following is a brief synopsis of the results of the aforementioned review:

It is important to note that the financial data accompanying the reports is that of January 17, 2002 and is subject to year-end final adjustments.

Council

Council approved a new Procedural By-law, Sewer Lateral Maintenance By-law and Sign By-law. Over the next few months Council will be reviewing the Traffic/Parking, Taxi/Limousine, Animal Control, Bicycle Licencing, Motorized Snow Vehicles, Noise, Bicycle, Skateboards, etc., Dangerous Dogs and Clean Yards By-laws.

This marks the first year Council has passed the budget for the following year prior to year-end.

In the second quarter IT Staff implemented and trained Council and Staff to use an electronic agenda program that is expected to save the Town an estimated $160,000 in three years through reduced costs associated with less paper, copying, faster retrieval times and agendas and minutes being posted automatically to the Town’s web site. This program is another accomplishment for the Town that has labeled us as one of the leaders in e-government and organizational transformation in Ontario.

The year-end financial information shows Council expenditures to be slightly over budget by approximately $1,300 with an annual cost of $16.17 per household compared to 2001’s $27.78 per household.

The 2001 year-end reserves total $2,651,310 compared to the 2000 balance of $2,378,840.

Corporate Administration

Among the Human Resource activities in this last quarter of 2001 was the disbandment of our local CUPE union as the members voted out their bargaining rights. The Public Works employees are now, along with all other Town employees, under the governance of the Corporate Personnel Policy. A new agreement with the Fire Fighters’ Association should be presented to Council in February to commence in January of 2002 and continue to the end of 2004.

Council adopted a Corporate Health and Safety Policy and shortly thereafter Senior Management approved the Corporate Health and Safety Procedures that were introduced by the Joint Health and Safety Committee. The Joint Health and Safety Committee met the legislated requirements with regard to number of certified members on staff in time for the year-end deadline.

An Employee Benefits Review Committee continues to attempt to converge the plans of the various departments and former PUC into one benefit program to ease the administration burden and provide fair and equitable benefit coverage to all employees. A report and recommendation is expected to be presented to Council in February or early March.

Information technology continues to introduce change with Council’s approval to purchase new hardware upgrades for the Corporation. The new hardware and updated software will provide Council and Staff the necessary tools to meet the demands required by the software in use today. The Town’s innovative approach to technology over the past three years has earned it the 2001 Government in Technology Distinction Award for New Approaches to Customer Service in the Public Sector. The IT Manager is working very hard on the Town’s behalf to benefit from the $1.5 million Connect Ontario Grant recently awarded to the County of Oxford which included a submission from the Town with the application.

The electronic records management and document imaging project continues to move forward as our Records Management Coordinator is very close to completing the set up prior to rolling out rights to all users.

Insurance claims against the Town have declined in 2001 compared to 2000. A confidential summary of which is attached to this report is based on information provided by the Town’s insurer as of December 31, 2001.

The financial figures as of January 17, 2002, prior to year end journal entries shows a surplus of approximately $200,000 (excluding Advanced Utility Software) which includes interest income on the OMERS Type 3 surplus of $120,000 other interest income that exceeded budget by $30,000, a natural gas rebate of $8,000, use of consultants for post financial software support was $15,000 under budget. The cost per household for corporate services in 2001 was $72.08 compared to $75.85 in 2000.

Customer Service

Customer Service continues to implement a new utility billing software and customer information management system to provide the necessary services for Tillsonburg Hydro Inc. to meet the requirements of the competitive hydro market opening slated for May 1, 2002.

The year-end financial position of Customer Service, prior to adjusting journal entries is approximately $31,000 under budget due mostly to over estimated postage costs. Revenues exceeded budget expectations by $3,000.

Planning

The Town continues to develop as we received four subdivision applications this year compared to one in 2000, however, new construction was 60% of the total of that of 2000. The number of new residents is estimated at 118 compared to 165 in 2000. Minor variance applications were 1.6 times that of 2000 and site plan control applications more than doubled this year over last year. The estimated increase in assessment as a result of development in the year has increased by 62% over 2000.

The Town continues to wait for the County to consider their request for full-time County Planning Services to be available at our Customer Service Centre.

The Town sold two residential lots that generated $90,000, of which was put into reserve for future use.

The year-end figures were approximately $7,000 over budget due to an unbudgeted $15,000 legal bill for a prospective downtown development.

Building

Building permit numbers have increased largely due to increases in deck, sunroom, and additions. Dollar values are down to date due to fewer industrial starts. Housing starts are down slightly likely due to increased interest rates (for actual numbers see performance measures on the year-end report for building).

The Chief Building Official presented a new sign by-law that was adopted by Council with amendments to the previous by-law that imposed specific restrictions on sandwich board signs and commercial signage in the downtown core.

Due to a significant decrease in building permit values there was an approximate $125,000 shortfall in meeting the budget surplus at year-end.

Policing

A year-end occurrence report from the OPP provides the following percentage of cases cleared during the year for each respective violation:

Measure / 2000 / 2001
Output Measures
No. of violent crime incidents cleared/ Total actual violent crimes / 72.6% / 87.5%
No. of property crime incidents cleared/ Total actual property crimes / 25.8% / 50.5%
No. of other criminal code (excluding traffic) crime incidents cleared/ Total actual criminal code (excluding traffic) crimes / 34.4% / 79.2%
No. of criminal code traffic crime incidents cleared/ Total actual criminal code traffic crimes / 96.4% / 93.8%
No. of drug crime incidents cleared/ Total actual drug crimes / 95.5% / 97.8%
No. of federal statutes crime incidents cleared/ Total actual federal statutes crimes / N/a / 92.8%
No. of all crime categories crime incidents cleared/ Total actual all crime categories crimes / 35.9% / 74.3%

The statistics show a significant improvement in the number of cleared cases over the past twelve months.

A review of the overtime hours as well as all other variable costs associated with the OPP Contract has been done and there appear to be no problem areas. As it currently stands, overtime hours are well below budget, therefore, we can expect a credit for our contract cost, however the final reconciliation is not due from the Province until April 30, 2002.

We are waiting the results of the recent OPP telephone survey to see the public’s level of satisfaction in regard to police services in Tillsonburg.

The costs of police services are approximately $290 per household in 2001. The figure of $467 per household in 2000 included significant transition costs in the third quarter with the disbandment of the Tillsonburg Police Association.

Fire

Our Firefighters responded to 40 emergency calls in the last quarter of 2001, up from 35 for the final quarter of 2000. The total number of emergency calls in the year was 179, an considerable increase from 152 in 2000. The calls are categorized as 41% alarm systems, 13% for structure and 8% for grass and brush fires. There were 18 building inspections conducted and 9 public education sessions that involved approximately 85 people. Five children were involved in the TAPP-C program.

All apparatus and equipment continues to be satisfactory and in good operating condition.

The year-end financial report, prior to any adjusting journal entries, appears to be a surplus of approximately $30,000. This would largely be due to the vacancy of the Deputy Fire Chief position for the year. Overall, the operating costs for fire services for every $1,000 of assessment is $.61 compared to 2000’s $.66.

Protective Services

Our Enforcement Officer has completed her review of the Traffic/Parking, Taxi/Limousine, Animal Control, Bicycle Licencing, Motorized Snow Vehicles, Noise, Bicycle, Skateboards, etc., and Dangerous Dogs By-laws, all of which are presently before Council for consideration. As a result of the time involved for the enforcement officer to review the by-laws parking ticket revenues have come in at approximately $15,000 below budget.

Prisoner escort fees have increased over the budgeted amount since the part-time Town employees are now providing service for the other municipalities that fall under Oxford County OPP, however, the Town receives funding from the Ministry of the Attorney General for these services as they did prior to the OPP contract coming into effect.

The number of school crossings was increased by three in 2000, however, it appears that the budget estimate did not include the additional wages which resulted in an $19,000 overrun.

It is anticipated that dispatch wages exceeded budget due to significant sick leave being supported by part-time wages.

The overall protection budget exceeded the estimated budget by approximately $90,000.

Airport

Airport activity continues to soar. We currently have two flight/aviation schools working out of our municipal airport. Local air traffic increased by 1.75% over last year. Fuel sales were more than double what they were in 2000 resulting in revenues to exceed the budget amount by $13,000.

The grass runway 01/19 restoration has not taken place. The Airport Manager has determined that the original plan or complete reworking the base was not necessary as continuous cutting discovered the runway to be in fair shape. The Roads crew delivered some left over fill from in town projects to fill in some of the rough spots. There will be a need for a heavy-duty highway roller later in the year or early spring, depending on when we get an adequate rain for compaction and to finally complete the restoration.

The Airport Manager is recommending that the work on the taxiways be phased in, so rather than doing the whole project this year do only the main taxiway and defer completion of the driveways to the hangars to a later date since the Advisory Committee is currently working on a plan for additional hangers.

The transformer that was purchased several years ago to service future development at the Airport was returned for reimbursement to Hydro One Inc. with the proceeds of $2,210.15 put in reserve for future use.

The year-end projected results are $7,000 under budget due to the increase in the gross margin of fuel sales. The airport costs as a ratio to local air traffic is $1.13 compared to last year’s $8.14 (largely due to the significant difference in local traffic count).

Summary

In summary Corporate Administration has made excellent progress in achieving the goals and objectives as set out in the 2001 Business Plans.

Of the $1,074,000 capital budget, $933,000 or 87% was expended. Total operating expenditures are estimated to be 95.9% of the budgeted $7,300,000.

The Town did not increase their long-term borrowing during the year, however, did require short-term borrowing to meet cashflow demands as follows:

Overall, Corporate Administration expenses came in approximately $140,000 under budget, Community Services $50,000 over budget and Operations at $170,500 under budget which should result in meeting our projected surplus of approximately $170,000.

RECOMMENDATION

For Council to consider the following resolution:

“THAT the Staff Report dated January 31, 2002 prepared by the Director of Corporate Services regarding Corporate Services Year-end Report for 2001 be received for information.”

Respectfully Submitted,

Lynn S. Buchner, CGA, AMCT

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