There are two types of surplus – annual and accumulated – and both have limitations around what they can be used for. Local Governments in BC are legally not allowed to carry a deficit so will often have an annual surplus. The City’s annual surplus is never large enough to fully fund a project of this scope and our reserve policy requires us to first use the annual surplus to top up reserves to make sure they are at their minimum balance. Any remaining surplus is allocated as per discussions with Council. Examples of how funds have been allocated in the past include funding the City Asset Retirement Obligations and distributing funds to the Property Acquisition Reserve to fund future property purchases.
The “accumulated surplus” is the total amount of the City’s assets, both financial and non-financial, less any liabilities. When looking at the City’s budget this line item has a big number ($935,801,694 to be exact) attached to it, but it’s more complicated than that. The “accumulated surplus” is made up of three components – Operating Reserves, Statutory Reserves and Investments in Tangible Capital Assets. Here’s what each means:
Investments in tangible capital assets
Tangible capital assets are the various things the City owns like land, roads, recreation centres, fire trucks, sewer and water systems, etc. The investment in tangible capital assets is calculated as the net book value of the City’s tangible capital assets (cost less accumulated depreciation) less any capital debt (debt incurred to build or purchase a tangible capital asset).
At $762,309,770, this makes up 81 per cent of the City’s accumulated surplus and cannot be used as a funding source because they are a value, not actual liquid cash.
Operating and Statutory Reserves
The City has a reserve policy that governs how reserves are built up and allocated. The policy also requires a minimum balance be maintained in certain reserves to help make sure the City has the financial resources available to respond to unanticipated events including the early or unanticipated failure of an asset.
For example, in November 2022, the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre (NAC) experienced a failure with their boilers. Funding was allocated from the Facility Development Reserve to allow for two new boilers to be ordered and installed in a timely manner.
When putting together the budget each year, the City’s 10 Year Project Plan is updated. Reserves are a major funding source for the project plan.
Requirements for using funds from reserves for projects includes making sure reserves are used for their intended purposes and that funds are distributed among the variety of projects required to maintain City services.
A significant portion of the reserves have been allocated to fund projects in the next ten years.
The City’s Operating Reserves make up 10 per cent or $91,636,368 of the accumulated surplus.
Statutory reserves are established by a bylaw and may only be used for the specific purpose for which the funds were collected.
For example, the Community Works Reserve can only be used for projects that meet the criteria of the program under which the funding was allocated to the City. Another example is the Equipment Depreciation Reserve which is for the replacement of the City’s fleet from cars and pick up trucks to ice resurfacers (a.k.a. “Zambonis”) and fire trucks.
The City’s Statutory Reserves make up nine per cent or $81,855,556 of the accumulated surplus.