Kimberley City Council Report
By Nowell Berg

On May 13, City of Kimberley council held its regular bi-monthly meeting.

Councilors Kevin Dunnebacke, Jason McBain and Sandra Roberts were present along with Mayor Don McCormick. Coun. Sue Cairns and Woody Maguire attended via video link.

An archive of the meeting can be found on the City of Kimberley YouTube channel. Watch it
here.

Audited Financial Statements (2023)

BDO Canada, the city’s official auditor through 2027, presented the 2023 audited financial
statements.
Mario Piroddi, BDO, told council the city had a “clean audit opinion.” He stated that the
supplied financial statements reflect the actual operations and position of the City of Kimberley to the end of 2023.

Highlights include:
Total revenues were $32 million.
Property taxes account for 42% of revenue.
Provincial grants provide 20% of revenue.
Total expenses were $22 million.
Transportation and civic works account for the largest share of expenses, $6 million.
Recreational and cultural services took up over $4 million.
Wages and benefits were one-third of the $22 million in expenses.
Cash surplus is $2.9 million.
Accumulated surplus for future projects is $29.9 million.

The city, said Piroddi, “did well compared to budget” last year. He pointed out the astute
financial move, and a “credit to management for taking advantage of high interest rates,” to
invest the $3.5 million grant from the provincial Growing Communities Fund, which generated over $1 million in revenue.

Piroddi concluded, “I want to commend management because there was a lot of heavy lifting
done, not only by Finance, but Operations as well.”

Mayor McCormick ended by saying, “With a $32 million budget, there are a lot of transactions
that are involved in that. To come up with a clean audit says an awful lot about the detail staff
have put into this. On behalf of council, thank you for an awesome job.”

Transit Update

Troy Pollock, Manager of Planning and Sustainability, presented Council with an update on transit activities.

First up, the proposed expansion of the Kimberley-Cranbrook commuter route “has not been approved for implementation” by BC Transit. Pollock said, the decision was “a bit of a
disappointment.”

Over-all, Kimberley Transit ridership numbers have almost “rebounded from pandemic impacts,” which Pollock said was “mostly good news.” In 2023, ridership totaled 21,135, which is an 11.6% increase over 2022. Commuter ridership in 2023 held steady at 7,231.

Approvals for expansion were given to “Route 23 Winter Shuttle and the Route 24 local on-
demand transit services (up to 555 additional hours of service and one expansion vehicle).”

Implementation should be completed for the 2024-2025 winter shuttle season.

The health connections ridership increased by a modest 3.4% to 2,674. Pollock noted that since 2019, use of this transit route has seen a slow decline, in part, due to riders “switching” to the commuter service.

The free-fare winter shuttle has seen significant ridership increases. Last season saw a total of
3,209 riders which is up from 1,939 the year before.

Local on-request ridership rose last year to 8,021. An increase from 7,261 riders in 2022.
Pollock hopes the KC commuter route will see expansion in 2025.

Bike Park Revitalization Update

Manager of Parks and Facilities, Nicole Halasz, presented to council an update on the bike park revitalization. Halasz pointed out the project has two phases, one for the dirt jump track and phase two for the paved pump track.

Upon issuing a request for proposal for Phase 1, the city received six proposals. The one
selected for approval was $26,422 over the original budget of $98,095, which brings the Phase
1 total to $124,517. The name of the company submitting this bid was not revealed.

Phase 1 funding ($64,000) was supplied by Columbia Basin Trust (CBT), who have agreed to
increase the grant by $34,000, which brings their total to $98,000.

A $5,000 grant from the Municipal Insurance Association of BC for this phase. The remaining
funds ($21,157) will be supplied by the Kimberley Trails Society (KTS) through their fundraising efforts.

Phase 2, the paved pump track, which will be handled by KTS, received a grant of $376,466
from the BC Tourism Development fund. KTS awarded the contract to an unnamed company,
which bid $367,499. The excess funds will be used to “enhance the project, potentially including additional ramps and fencing.

Construction on the project will start in July with completion expected by September.

Kimberley City Council meets twice monthly starting at 7 p.m. The next regular council meeting: May 27.

e-KNOW file photo

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