Lethbridge City Hall. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Annual report: Lethbridge’s debt rising, but still in “strong financial position”

Apr 22, 2020 | 11:49 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge has released its 2019 annual report, which provides lots of details about the municipality’s operations and financial position.

Director of Treasury and Financial Services Hailey Pinksen spoke about the report in Monday’s city council meeting.

She claims the city is doing well from a fiscal perspective compared to other municipalities in Alberta and across the country.

It is important to note that the information in the report goes until the end of December 2019, so it does not include any impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the community.

The city finished the year with a consolidated annual unrestricted surplus of $3.1-million.

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At the same time, the net financial debt rose to $33.2-million in 2019, while there was a net financial asset of $4-million the year prior.

Net financial assets. (City of Lethbridge)

Pinksen says a large portion of the rising debt is due to capital projects and utilities.

Between 2015 and 2019, the overall debenture debt increased from $90-million to $228-million. $58-million of that is just for the construction of the ATB Centre in West Lethbridge.

This project is tax-supported, meaning $58-million is paid for purely through municipal taxes and not provincial or federal grants.

Debenture debt. (City of Lethbridge)

Mayor Chris Spearman says, going forward, the city has to be careful about not supporting additional projects that are not supported by grants.

“We submitted seven projects last year from this community, six from city council, and none were funded, so we want to make sure that programs like [Municipal Sustainability Initiative] continue, but there’s no guarantee MSI will continue past the end of 2020 so that’s a concern. We want to make sure that federal infrastructure funding continues to flow through the local municipalities.”

In the months and years ahead, however, Spearman believes that this will be easier said than done, as the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havok on the province’s pocketbooks.

“What I’m hearing is the province is tapped out in terms of fiscal capacity and they may be relying on the federal government’s funding before anything additional is coming to municipalities. Of course, our concern would be, will there be an equitable method of distribution and will the projects that are important to taxpayers in Lethbridge by funded?”

The annual report also details general information about the city, such as the population growing to 101,482, the median property assessment for single-family residential properties being $253,800, the average unemployment rate being six per cent, and more obscure facts such as there being 4,485 hours of sunlight.

The full City of Lethbridge 2019 annual report can be accessed on the city’s website here, or you can access a condensed version with highlights here.

The City of Lethbridge’s financial position. (City of Lethbridge)

Where the city’s revenues came from. (City of Lethbridge)

What municipal taxes were spent on. (City of Lethbridge)