By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Presenting Northumberland County’s draft 2025 financial statement to county council this week, Director of Finance Matthew Nitsch had a few red flags.
Though total revenues were $14.4-million over budget, they were offset to the point that there was an operating deficit of $1.66-million, largely due to budget shortfalls in five main areas – winter maintenance, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board costs and expenses associated with operating the Golden Plough Lodge.
WSIB costs were $0.5-million over budget, and a very difficult winter put winter-maintenance costs $1.2-million over budget.
“This has been over-budget before, but never to this degree since I have been here – it was a very difficult winter,” Nitsch said.
The remainder was due to the Golden Plough Lodge – security/high-intensity needs were $0.8-million over, staffing-agency fees were $1.2-million over, and funding shortfalls sent the budget a further $2.4-million over.
Nitsch’s recommendation is to cover the deficit with transfers from the winter-maintenance budget and the county’s general reserves – $825,000 out of the winter-maintenance $1.3-million reserve, and $833,000 out of the county’s $26-million general reserve.
If staffing was that much over budget, Cramahe Councillor Sandra Arthur wondered, how much of a budget was there?
“This is a trend we have seen for a number of years. It’s a critical thing to make sure we have the correct number of staff,” Nitsch said – when staff call in sick or are off on vacation, they must be replaced.
“I don’t think there was much of a budget, so I think this is something we will look at.”
Arthur noted that “winter maintenance” only covered through Dec. 31, 2025, and was followed by a brutal January through March – will it go over budget again, she asked.
“There definitely is that risk. And we don’t know what the end of the season is going to be like, November and December,” Nitsch agreed.
Port Hope Councillor Olena Hankivsky was more disturbed by the increase in long-term debt from $9.5-million to $103.6-million. This mean’s they’re not in a position to take on any projects on a scale the size of the Golden Plough Lodge rebuild.
“I’ve been here 13 years and I think, as an organization, we have been used to having that flexibility to be able to take on projects or opportunities or challenges because our reserves were healthy and our debt was low,” Nitsch said.
As noted in his report, “Northumberland County is in a period of needing to use significant amounts from reserves. This, combined with higher debt levels, will result in reduced flexibility for future projects/challenges.”
