Bashaw's town council received Scott Arnaud from Gitzel & Company Chartered Professional Accountants during its April 16 meeting.
Arnaud presented the town's 2024 audited financial statements.
"As per usual, it's clean and unqualified," said Arnaud.
The audited financials for 2024 show that the municipality had revenues of around $2.32 million against expenses of around $2.86 million.
On the revenue side, the largest drivers were municipal property taxes, around $867,000, and sale of goods and user fees, around $861,000.
"Taxes receivable are really consistent between the years," said Arnaud.
Arnaud noted that the town has around $50,000 in tax arrears, comprising around a dozen tax rolls.
"It's not a pervasive issue," said Arnaud.
For expenses, Water and Wastewater took up most of the budget, with just over $702,000, followed by Roads and Transportation at $415,000.
The town has total financial assets of around $2.75 million, with liabilities of around $1.32 million. Bashaw's non-financial assets (such as buildings and infrastructure) are around $10.82 million, with a total accumulated surplus of $12.25 million, which is down about $500,000 from 2023.
According to Arnaud, most areas in the expenses column remained somewhat consistent, with administrative services increasing a bit, and water and wastewater increasing by $85,000.
Arnaud did note there was one deficiency found upon review of the Town of Bashaw's books. He noted that a "significant number" of journal entries mainly related to deferred revenue had to be adjusted at year-end to prepare the financial statements.
Ultimately, because the deficiency related to funding that would end up at the town at some point and mainly focused on how the deferred revenue was being tracked, the deficiency was deemed minor.
In total, Arnaud presented his findings for around 40 minutes before council accepted the report as information.
Direct Control
Work on the Town of Bashaw's direct control properties continues.
Direct control districts are properties where council maintains final authority over development.
Originally, 21 properties had been identified as direct control districts, a number which the town is seeking to drop significantly.
However, during the review of the Land Use Bylaw amendment, it was discovered that there are actually 22 direct control districts in the community.
"There was confusion at the open house," said Coun. Kyle McIntosh.
McIntosh noted that the listing in the meeting's attached agenda package was more thorough than what had been available at the open house, and queried whether or not something could be done with an accompanying map on the town's website.
"People really misunderstood what direct control means," said Coun. Cindy Orom. "People assume that we as council are taking control of these people's properties ... Even myself, as I was going through this, if I wasn't on council I wouldn't understand it."
Orom agreed with McIntosh that documentation should be made available to the community on the proposed changes.
Ultimately, Coun. Jackie Northey motioned to approve the first reading of Bylaw 833-2025, which will move the 22 direct control districts into a mix of amended direct control districts, low-density residential, and general residential or central commercial districts.
2025 Municipal Election
With municipal elections coming up on Oct. 20, 2025, the Town of Bashaw needs to appoint returning officers.
Council has appointed Christine Morrison as the returning officer for the upcoming election, and Darlene Tucker as the deputy returning officer.
It will be Morrison's responsibility to recruit and train personnel to ensure the election is conducted in a fair and efficient manner.
