Hampstead expected to end year within budget: Steinberg

By Joel Goldenberg

The town of Hampstead is expected to end 2009 within its budget for that fiscal year, Mayor William Steinberg told the November town council meeting.

“Our only caution resides with unforeseen expenses materializing from legal claims,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg read his annual report on the town’s financial situation — if he had read it a month earlier, it would likely have prompted a lengthy debate with former councillor and mayoral candidate David Sternthal and his supporters, who contend that the town is in a financial crisis, a theory Steinberg vehemently rejects. This time, the reading went smoothly.

Much of the report concerned the 2008 fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31, 2008. Steinberg reported that 2008 ended with a net surplus of $996,000, resulting from “funds remaining to invest in infrastructure projects per interest-free loans taken out in accordance with Quebec’s [subsidy] program; higher revenues than expected generated from property transfer duties; interest revenues from our bank account surpassing the budgeted amount; expense savings from the financing of long-term debt; and sound financial management of expenditures.”

The accumulated surplus was $2.1 million, of  which “$375,000 [was] set aside to complete infrastructure projects related to long-term  — interest-free — borrowing already made under Quebec’s [subsidy] program; $245,500 was appropriated as a tax reduction measure in the 2009 budget; and $1.5 million “remains as an undistributed balance, of which $300,000 is reserved for the town’s Working Fund.”
Other facts from Steinberg’s financial report:

• Capital expenditure for 2008 totalled $4.69 million, of which $3,543,000 was used for roads and sidewalks, $677,400 for machinery and equipment, $343,900 for buildings and offices, $100,600 for vehicles and $25,800 for parks and playgrounds. Infrastructure of roads and sidewalks is one of the town’s top priorities.

• One project in 2009 as part of the town’s three-year capital expenditures program was the water main and sewer network, helped by a $1.1 million subsidy from the federal excise tax program. A provincial program called PRECO added another $764,000. “And for the coming years, a new 2010 - 2013 federal excise tax program should provide additional funds to continue this upgrade of our infrastructures. Other projects included road reconstruction, sidewalk repair, rejuvenating the vehicle fleet, heavy equipment and computer hardware and software; the rehabilitation of several parks; the upgrading of municipal garage gas tanks; and the reorganization of the municipal yard.

“We will continue to focus on our longer-term plan to recover and build a renewed infrastructure system while ensuring that our town is kept clean, attractive and safe,” Steinberg said.

• Next year is the final year of the four year property valuation roll, which affects the property tax rate. “Given the strength of the real estate market with its effect on increased property values, the tax rate will once again be adjusted,” Steinberg’s report says. “ In order to ensure that the total comparative tax bill per average single family home remains within the desired variance, the rate is adjusted to take into consideration an increase in the overall evaluation tax base of the town. In short, values go up, rates go down but the average tax bill only typically fluctuates per budget demands with a minimal impact due to market growth.”

• In terms of salary, the mayor earns $ 25,518 for his position, plus a $12,759 expense account. His salary for bring on the agglomeration council is $10,160, plus a $1,825 expense account. Councillors earn $ 8,506 a year, plus a $4,253 expense account. A councillor who also served on the agglomeration council earned $5,080, plus a $2,540 expense account.