Vernon City Council at the regular meeting Monday, August 12 (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Mid-Year Budget Report

Vernon’s revenues outpacing expenditures

Aug 12, 2025 | 1:19 PM

The City of Vernon has managed its budget well in the first half of 2025.

A financial report to Vernon City Council showed the city’s revenues totaled $81,900,966 as of June 30, 2025. That accounts for 69 per cent of the revenue expected to be generated over the entire year.

Comparatively, expenditures for the first half of the year was recorded at $51,488,619. That equates to roughly 43 per cent of the expenditures expected throughout 2025.

The biggest contributors to revenues was from the Financial Services department, recording $69,546,654. It was noted that 91 per cent of taxation revenues for 2025 were recognized in the first half of the year. Other key contributors were Planning and Community Services($3,422,427), primarily in provincial transit revenue, and Sewer ($3,254,310), though that only included the first quarter.

Financial Services also contributed the most to expenditures ($12,269,732), mainly related to annual software maintenance contracts and insurance. Other key expenditures came from Operations Services ($9,311,227) due to larger contracts and major repairs scheduled through the year, followed by additional salary and employee transition in Administrative Services ($599,763).

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“When you consider seasonality and timing, we are on track for revenues for 2025,” Ann Hoolsema, Acting Manager of Financial Planning, told Vernon City Council at the regular meeting Monday, August 11.

“Same thing as with revenues, we were subject to seasonality and timing [with expenditures]. An example of this is Operations Services, where we are going to expect to see some contracts and repairs a little bit heavier into the end of 2025.”

However, it was noted Vernon’s investments are not faring too well. The report said the total yield for the second quarter was 5.01 per cent, down from the annual average of 5.86 per cent in 2024. Investment yields were also expected to fall even further through the year as markets reflect investment rate decreases from the Bank of Canada.

The City of Vernon had a budget of $118,831,147 set for 2025.

Vernon City Council accepted the report for information at Monday’s meeting.