Mayor Beny Masella

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Montreal West council, at its recent meeting, moved to publish the annual report by Mayor Beny Masella and Councillor Colleen Feeney on the financial situation of the town, for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024.

Masella said he was very pleased with the results of the report.

A summary of the report was already provided at the previous council meeting by Feeney, who has the finance, recreation and culture and Municipalité amie des ainés (MADA) age-friendly portfolios on council. The figures were provided by an external auditor.

The report indicated that the town had an operating surplus of $2,141,020 at the end of 2024 — more specifically, “revenues were $1.49 million over budget and accounted for the bulk of the surplus… mainly due to duties on transfer from the sales of homes $411,000 over budget due to increased sales; interest income $343,000 over budget due to higher interest rates and interest on arrears and recreation revenues $246,000 over budget with day camp, pool, youth and adult program and event revenues higher than anticipated.”

Other sources of the surplus included “an additional $124,000 from government grants for recycling, an ice storm grant and a special one-time transfer for small municipalities; permits revenues $209K over budget due mainly to parking permits (new commercial parking lease) and more building permits; fines and penalties being $61,000 over budget and other services $58,000 higher than anticipated.”

The report also says that total operating expenses were $655,000 under budget and the town had an added $44,000 in expenses for Recreation “as a result of the increased registration and events, and $86,000 in amortization expense related to new accounting regulations.

“This was offset with substantial savings in other areas, notably $411,000 less than budgeted for interest on long-term debt and bank charges due mainly to lower refinancing interest rates, and the decision to delay going for financing of our long-term loan for the new Recreation Centre, thus saving $333,000.”

There were also “$303,000 less in salary costs, $131,000 in Public Works due mainly to lower costs for snow removal and external contracts.

As well, “$265,000 was spent in Capital Expenses as part of our Pay-as-you-go financing which allows us to fund certain projects through our operations budget rather than incurring additional debt.” These expenditures included “$116,000 for Town Hall foundation repairs, new electrical entry and emergency stairs; $49,000 for water flow regulators, $45,000 for capital assets for the new Recreation Centre, $40,000 for new fire hydrants and $15,000 for three photocopy machines.”

Capital investment projects pursued during the year totalled $24.3 million, “which included construction, architectural and consultant fees for the new Recreation Centre ($22.7 million) and the resurfacing of Avon ($179,000).

“With the exception of the Recreation Centre, which has added to our long-term debt, all other capital investments were funded by our accumulated surplus or working and operating funds. At year end, the Town’s net debt stood at $17.3 million, up from $11.5 million in 2023. In the past 10 years net debt has only increased from $16.9 million to $17.3 million despite capital investments of over $45.9 million in the same period. Our unappropriated operating surplus is $2.6 million, while our appropriated surplus is $784,000, and our Working Fund stands at $1.4 million.”