The City of Fernie has released the Annual Municipal Report for 2015. The 70-page report details the City of Fernie’s activities and contains the 2015 financial statements.
“The City of Fernie Annual Report provides an opportunity to highlight the municipality’s initiatives undertaken over the past year, layout the objectives for the next two years and is a great resource to help citizens gain an understanding of the City’s financial position,” read the introduction of the report.
Mayor Mary Giuliano’s opening message addressed Council goals for 2015 and said she was proud of the City’s accomplishments.
“Council’s 2015 focus was the four areas established during Strategic Planning Sessions — strengthen the economy; enhance corporate communications and public engagement; enhance community wellbeing and municipal infrastructure; and enhance customer service.
As described in the report the City of Fernie’s corporate goals for 2016 to 2018 are six-fold: support business and economic diversity; increase and improve communications and public engagement; increase corporate and public safety; upgrade and maintain city infrastructure and facilities; maintain appropriate and sustainable service levels; and finally strengthen the City of Fernie’s organization. Each specific goal had a strategy for implementation and detailed measures of improvement.
Along with corporate vision and goals, the report also detailed the progress on many projects the city was working on in 2015, including Ridgemont Park, sewage treatment plants and the James White Park wells project.
The annual municipal report also includes a list of properties in the City of Fernie that are exempt from property taxes. In total, 23 properties are exempt from property tax, amounting in over $87,000 of taxes pardoned. The majority of properties are not-for-profit organizations, including churches and community-based groups, such as the Salvation Army and the Women’s Resource Centre. The Fernie Golf and Country Club has two properties on the list, valued at over $2 million. According to former CAO Jim Hendricks, this is because the Fernie Golf and Country Club operates as a society.
According to the report, the City of Fernie had over $661,000 in grants and partnering agreements in 2015, including partnering with numerous community-based organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce. In total, z 44 organizations had grant funding or partnering agreements with the city.
The annual municipal report is available to the public on the City of Fernie’s website, Fernie.ca.