At long last, the Village of Halkirk has its 2023 audited financial statements complete.
The audit, completed by RWA LLP, was presented to council during its Aug. 8 meeting.
According to chief administrative officer (CAO) Marcy Renschler, the document paints "a clearer picture" of the village's financial situation.
Of note in the document, according to Renschler, was a reported loss of $28,000 in 2023, with much of it related to the "massive" wage of the previous CAO and the severance paid out when the new council released them after the by-election in the fall.
The statement of financial position shows a modest improvement overall, due to the purchase of new equipment and some paving projects that were done.
As of the end of 2023, the total accumulated surplus, including tangible assets, for the village was just over $3.1 million.
Total revenue, from all sources excluding donations and other government transfers, was put at just under $486,000 and expenses for the year were around $690,000.
According to Koenraadt, the deficit is accurate as the expenses reflect some paving work that was done funded by grants not reflected in the village's revenue.
Renschler noted that while no fraud was detected with the audit, over 50 journal entries have to be corrected with many of them having eight separate components each.
"There were significant accounting errors," said Renschler.
Renschler noted that in previous years, only eight journal entries needed correction.
According to the budget documents supplied during the meeting, as of Dec 31, 2023, the Village of Halkirk has around $345,000 in unrestricted surplus and just under $125,000 in restricted surplus.
Due to the complication of the audit, the cost, which normally sits around the $10,000 mark, is around $21,000 for the 2023 financial year.
Cemetery
Rocky Dahmer, of the Halkirk Cemetery committee had been asked to come before council as a delegation.
Council wanted to know the status of the Halkirk Cemetery committee.
According to Dahmer, the committee has some funds and looks after the plot management but hasn't done a "work bee" or any formalized work event out at the cemetery in "years."
"The town's done a fantastic job," said Dahmer.
Currently, the Village of Halkirk looks after the mowing and other maintenance at the Halkirk cemetery, which is located a little way west of the community.
According to Renschler, to date in 2024 there have been eight burials so far in the cemetery and Dahmer noted that the cemetery is between one-third and one-half capacity.
A concern held by council, with the upcoming viability vote, is who will look after the cemetery if the village becomes a hamlet within the county.
"We need to look after the logistics," said Renschler.
Council wanted to begin the conversation of helping redevelop a stronger cemetery association to take over the maintenance of the facility should the village find itself becoming part of the county.
Typically, Paintearth County has supported groups looking after cemeteries through financial means, but it has not done the cemetery work itself.
I Am Responding
Council has approved the subscription of the I Aam Responding mobile phone app for the volunteer fire department.
Typically, when a 911 call is received, a radio call will go out and a dispatch would also send out a text message to see who is responding to the call.
Unfortunately, the major telecommunications provider algorithms have begun to see those text messages as spam and have started blocking them before they are received by the firefighters.
I Am Responding will instead send a push notification to the firefighter's mobile phone with the callout information and ask if they are responding, with a yes or no answer option.
As it is an app, it will not be subject to telecommunications algorithms, so should be more reliable than the text messaging,
According to Renschler, she has been in touch with the Castor and Coronation fire departments, both of which use the app and "all say it's excellent."
The cost of the app is around $300 US per year.
"I think we have to," said Mayor Jan Koenraadt.
The purchase was approved in a motion by Coun. Ross Elsasser.
