Canada/Magog ends fiscal year 2023 with an $8 million surplus

As in 2022, the City of Magog recorded a surplus at the end of its most recent fiscal year. For 2023, the unconsolidated surplus was over $8.2 million. Details of the reported surpluses were presented to citizens at Tuesday evening's municipal council meeting.

In all, the municipality will have obtained revenues of over $107 million in the past year. These are revenues for the City of Magog, combined with those from Hydro-Magog.

As for charges and appropriations (expenses), the report presented reveals that the total amounted to just over $99 million.

Including the Régie de police de Memphrémagog (RPM) and the Régie intermunicipale de gestion des déchets solides de la région de Coaticook (RIGDSC), the surplus exceeds $8.3 million.

In its report, the municipality points out that surpluses are more difficult to calculate due to three factors: transfer duties, non-recurring revenues such as land sales and subsidies, and revenues generated by Hydro-Magog.

Speaking of Hydro-Magog, the surplus for 2023 is just over $7 million. With this surplus, the municipality will use $3.5 million to finance the City of Magog's operating budget and non-recurring projects. An amount of $2.6 million will be added to the City of Magog's capital expenditure reserve, a fund that enables the municipality to finance projects without recourse to debt. In addition, $887,000 will be placed in a contingency budget.

According to Magog, most of the surplus was generated by rising property prices, despite a reduction in transfer duties, as the number of property sales fell.

The "sound management" of residual materials also enabled the Town to obtain higher-than-expected subsidies.

General property tax rate cut?

During the question period, Magog's mayor, Nathalie Pelletier, indicated that a reduction in the general property tax rate (milin) should occur.

We're announcing that we'll be lowering the milin with the upcoming new assessment roll, in the current inflationary context. We want to strike a balance between not making future generations pay and the average tax rate. We're going to work towards that goal," explained Mayor Pelletier.

In 2022, the City of Magog also recorded a surplus at the end of its fiscal year.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca