The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is making key adjustments to its 2024-2028 Five-Year Financial Plan after rising operational costs a triggered a $2.5 million budget shortfall for 2024.
On Feb. 25, council gave first, second, and third readings to an amendment bylaw addressing unexpected expenditures.The budget amendment comes in response to a combination of higher-than-expected operating costs, improved staffing levels, and inflationary pressures.
The RMOW's current financial model, which aims to minimize tax increases by removing conservative contingency buffers, leaves little room to absorb cost overruns. Carlee Price, chief financial officer for the RMOW, said while this approach has maintained stable service levels and lower tax requisitions, it has made the budget more vulnerable to unexpected costs.
The budget impacts
The financial plan amendment addresses three major cost overruns in 2024: a contract with the RCMP, transit and transportation, and staffing costs.
Staffing costs were $1.3 million over budget as the RMOW reached near full staffing levels for the first time in years. Price said while this boosted project completions and service delivery, the original budget had assumed ongoing staff vacancies to keep costs down.
Councillor Ralph Forsyth questioned how staff could not have foreseen staffing costs ballooning, and Price said myriad reasons led to the surprise, with some accounting entries made in the fourth quarter, like sick time adjustments. When the RMOW changed accounting software in 2023, sick time accrual wasn’t automatically coming through payroll and required manual addition.
“So, there were probably five or 10 different small things that, when you adjust for it, showed a small acceleration through the four quarters of the year," Price said. "But because of the way we approach the budget and because of the way our accounting entries worked in 2024, the entire amount of the payroll variance was visible to managers only in the fourth quarter."
In response to the $1.3 million surprise, Price said staff are “100 per cent” changing the way they budget for staffing costs.
The RCMP contract was $700,000 over budget due to changes in provincial grants, increased labour costs, new homicide investigation cost-sharing formulas, and unexpected year-end adjustments.
Coun. Arthur De Jong pondered why the RCMP’s budget overrun wasn’t on the police’s radar.
“If they know they have some overruns in their annual budget, aren't they looking at some cost recoveries as well to help us? Or is it that that doesn't exist?” he said.
Ted Battiston, general manager of corporate and community services, said the higher-than-expected policing budget was primarily due to unforeseen wage increases from federal government wage settlements, which included a signing bonus. Whistler RCMP is looking for ways to save money from discretionary expenses.
“Even the inspector [Robert Dykstra] was surprised at the final numbers,” Battiston said.
Transit and transportation was $500,000 over budget, largely driven by BC Transit successfully hiring more drivers, restoring full service levels, and finalizing higher pay rates for operators.
To balance the books, the municipality is tapping into a mix of new revenues and reductions to its capital reserve contributions.
It is using $600,000 from the Resort Municipality Initiative and Community Transportation Initiative Fund; $300,000 from the Meadow Park Sports Centre, which had more revenue than expected from rising visitation and fee increases; and $1.6 million from reduced contributions to the General Capital Reserve.
EV charger project
Alongside operational adjustments, the budget amendment increases funding for the municipality’s EV charger installations by $275,000 to reflect updated costs for 2024. The funding will come from the general capital fund. The chargers, primarily funded through provincial grants benefiting Sea to Sky communities, are being installed in public parking areas, with Whistler’s share of the project expected to total $1.9 million over four years.
Forsyth asked for clarification on whether the $275,000 would impact the overall spending budgeted for the EV charger project.
Staff said it is a late submission from last year, so it will not impact the overall project spend, and the RMOW will still be on track to complete all of the chargers it originally anticipated with the grant funding.
“So, it won't cost us any more overall in the context of the five-year plan, it just is going to cost us an additional $270,000 now,” he said, with staff noting grant funding would make up the shortfall over time.
