The 2009 financial audit for Saugeen Shores is now in.
Michael Bolton of BDO Dunwoody says the municipality is in good shape.
Bolton says the municipality can make its debt payments in the future in accordance with Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs guidelines.
The statement shows though in 2009 the municipality came up short on revenue by almost two million dollars, while expenses ballooned to 21.7 million — almost 5 million more than budgeted.
However when compared to the previous year, 2008, revenue and expenses stayed about the same.
The town ended 2009 with a 5.2 million dollar surplus compared to 4.6 million in 2008.
Under the new system where all capital assets have to be assigned a dollar worth, in 2009, Saugeen Shores had 142.1 million dollars in accumulated surplus.
In 2008 that number was 136.9 million.
Mayor Mike Smith says he’s comfortable with the report and the numbers.
He says it’s a new system of reporting and it’s going to take time to learn all the ins and outs of the process.
Meanwhile, outgoing Deputy Mayor Doug Freiburger says he’s leery of council using town reserves, as they did last year to try to curb any budget increase.
He urges the new council not to mortgage their future.
He calls it a short-sighted outlook.
Freiburger says they have a lot of liabilities down the road and council must prepare for that, as you would in a private household.
