The City of Nanaimo received a provincial award for its fiscal management.
The municipality was awarded Best Practices, Excellence in Financial Stewardship at the 2017 Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention last month.
“This is a wonderful accomplishment…” said Coun. Bill Bestwick, chairman of the city’s finance and audit committee, at the Oct. 2 city council meeting. “In a time and an era when it’s extremely difficult to operate in as efficient a manner as the city has in the last two-plus years, it’s truly an accomplishment. And when I hear that we won this award, I’d prefer to think of it, though, as it was earned.”
Tracy Samra, city chief administrative officer, said last year’s core services review and implementation plan were some of the main reasons the city was recognized.
“The [core services review] report determined that the city is well-positioned, financially sound with high-quality services and we do compare favourably with other similar-sized municipalities…” Samra said.
“It’s going to continue to take time to start seeing more of the [CSR] results, but already in a year, at a provincial level, we’ve been recognized in excellence for the changes we’ve made in financial stewardship.”
Victor Mema, city chief financial officer, highlighted the city’s work in creating an asset management reserve fund and strategic infrastructure fund, as well as a new procurement process and adoption of a 20-year infrastructure plan and five-year capital plan.
“We have changed our mindset,” he said. “We are taking a long-term financial planning mindset which means when we do things, we are not simply looking at the budget for this year. We are looking at impact for future budgets and that [will] help us to make sure we continue with our fiscal sustainability as we go forward.”
Other winners of UBCM Community Excellence Awards include: Village of Salmo, Partnerships; City of Coquitlam, Best Practices, Excellence in Action; Cowichan Valley Regional District, Best Practices, Organizational Development and Improvements; Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, Leadership and Innovation, Green Initiatives; Central Okanagan Regional District, Leadership and Innovation, Agriculture; District of West Vancouver, Best Practices, Community Connections.
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