Suggestions to Save Money
I put out some social media videos this past week concerning my observations on the budgeting process to date at the Municipality of North Cowichan. I previously noted my concern for how the municipality is 1) behind in the budget process because other municipalities have already adopted their next cycle of financial plan bylaws and 2) I wondered why the municipality is only disclosing and discussing part of their budget so far.
Turns out, as noted by the Chief Financial Officer at the January 13 Committee of the Whole Meeting, is because the budget is not yet available for public review and furthermore, that Council does not yet know about what this budget contains. I strongly suggest watching the last hour of the video for the budget specific discussion. I ask a question during the Public Question period where the Mayor confirms that the majority of the $112 million budget is not yet available.
As for general public disclosure, the emphasis from the meeting is that all public related content is being maintain on the Connect Cowichan website. However, if you look at the page as of January 18, it is woefully lacking in budget related information. Not sure how any reasonable person assumes you can provide proper feedback on a budget of at least $112 million with only two staff reports.
Likewise, I am not sure what good a question and answer function is on this site, if it is not actually answered regularly:
I asked what I thought were relevant questions last week, but they have not yet been addressed.
In terms of municipal financial statements, I find the annual Statements of Financial Information to be particularly interesting between they clearly present staffing and supplier costs. This includes a count of salary costs for employees making >$75,000.00 as well as an itemized list of employees making more than $75,000.00. A specific list of suppliers paid more than $25,000.00 in a specific year is also provided.
One supplier name in particular jumped out at me: Unitech Construction Management ltd
They appear to be a Vancouver based company and over the past 5 years they have been paid: $50,538,293
In 2020 they were paid: $749,820
In 2021 they were paid: $7,768,717
In 2022 they were paid: $17,472,025
In 2023 they were paid: $14,975,824
In 2024 they were paid: $9,571,907
I wasn’t able to find municipal records for why and how these money was awarded, but if you google them and the municipality, you will find a page from the Unitech website which confirms these payments were for construction of the new RCMP building which they refer to as a new “Civic Building”. This makes sense!
So then if we look back at the 2024 Annual Report, specifically Note 16, we see a line about $20million dollars as at fiscal year end for the construction of the RCMP building
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Time to look at other listings.
BMO Corporate Card payments as shown on SOFI statements for the Municipality of North Cowichan may be interesting:
In 2020 it was reported as $398,808
In 2021 it was reported as $505,469
In 2022 it was reported as $690,852
In 2023 it was reported as $773,983
In 2024 it was reported as $843,228
Who is buying what I wonder?
Another example from the SOFI statements are legal fees paid each year to the Municipality’s lawyers: Young Anderson
In 2020 it was reported as: $299,974 + $1,721,380 (In trust)
In 2021 it was reported as: $257,686
In 2022 it was reported as: $272,243
In 2023 it was reported as: $310,441 and $870,530 (in trust)
In 2024 it was reported as: $523,103 and $2,090,896 (In trust)
And then if we take a step back and look at overall trends between 2020 and 2024, looking at total “supplier” payments in excess of $25,000, we see the following trends:
$53,253,069 in 2020
$70,152,756 in 2021
$81,827,044 in 2022
$86,589,365 in 2023
$88,173,866 In 2024
Related to this question of supplier payment, we should look to the Delegation of Authority Bylaw because I think it is very important that everyone realizes that the Chief Administrative Officer for North Cowichan appears to have the ability to spend $500,000.00 at any time and with marginal, if any public Council oversight. I note that this financial limit is similar to what is set for the CAO for City of Victoria (see their Delegation of Authority Bylaw) which has 3x the budget of ours.
Which is all to say, I am not optimistic that the Procurement Review planned for 2026 will not do much to add accountability to municipal procurement so long at that spending limit remains for the CAO.
Lets now turn back to the costs of employees, because if we review the same SOFI statements, we can see a similar year over year increase:
$15,306,176 in 2020 with $148,459 in expenses
$17,990,091 in 2021 with $178,146 in expenses
$19,404,604 in 2022 with $178,146 in expenses
$20,509,761in 2023 with $304,776 in expenses
$21,726,099 in 2024 with $285,068 in expenses
What sort of expenses are they reporting I wonder? Regarding the actual number of employees within each of those years, I found this relative information in the 2024 Annual Report:
A chart showing employee counts growing from 281 through to 341 - a 20% or so increase
So if we compare the numbers and look at the change in salaries again, these have increased from $15,306,176 to $21,726,099 - which is a 42% increase when the actual number of employees only increase %20.
Lastly, I think we should look at the change in $ remitted to the Cowichan Valley Regional District. Sure, this is money that the Municipality of North Cowichan presumably takes in through taxes exclusively for the purpose of remitting it to the CVRD, but this doesn’t mean that its free money and should therefore be carefully managed.
Looking at the SOFI statements between 2020 and 2024, I see that amounts paid have risen from $11,680,192 to $18,998,318 (a 62% increase in 5 years) I would hope that the new membership block at the CVRD, which came about so that council could have a unified voice (looking at you Findley and Manhasa) I would really like to know the extent to which this unified voice is paying attention to taxpayer costs and overall program efficiency?