The regular meeting of Battleford town council takes place Monday, July 21, 2025, at Town Hall. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

FINANCIAL REPORT

Battleford reports $6M in Q2 revenue, says town finances ‘on track’

Jul 22, 2025 | 1:03 PM

The Town of Battleford has passed the $6-million mark in recognized revenue for the year, with its chief financial officer (CFO) saying the town’s finances are “on track” as of the second quarter.

“Just a little bit over the $6 million, which represents 62 per cent of our yearly forecast,” CFO Tetiana Polishchuk told council during Monday’s meeting.

The town introduced three new levies this year. The Improvement Levy, Battleford Asphalt Improvement Levy and the Battleford Capital Replacement Levy are now tracked individually to improve transparency. Their revenue contributions were $272,894, $272,894 and $181,929 respectively.

As of June 30, the major revenue stream came from the municipal tax levy, which contributed over $3 million.

Polishchuk said municipal grant revenue was slightly behind budget, but not due to any shortfall.

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“It’s mainly only due to timing issues,” she said, referring to delays in when the funds are received, not a reduction in what’s expected.

Land sales were not included in the Q2 financials, but she noted, “the sales already happened in July, and financial transactions happened in July.”

The CFO also confirmed that no major financial issues have been flagged to date.

Expenses on target

As of June 30, the town had spent $2.8 million, representing 40 per cent of the annual forecast.

“All our departments their spendings are on track,” Polishchuk said. “Transportation services spent a little bit higher compared to last year, by $43,000, but still, the expenses remain on budget.”

She said recreation and cultural services spending is also “on track pretty much,” at about $711,000, and that water and sewer expenses came in lower than expected—about $453,000—“because of staff shortage.”

Read more – Unfilled jobs help Town of Battleford post $2 million surplus

Capital projects progressing, invoices pending

The town has 22 general capital projects budgeted for 2025. As of June 30, $372,526 had been spent out of a $2.02-million total allocation.

Several projects are physically complete but don’t yet appear that way on paper due to invoicing delays, including sidewalk improvements and the Third Avenue asphalt reconstruction.

Utility capital projects are also progressing. Out of six planned projects totaling $189,500, two have already been completed, with $92,949 spent.

“Pretty much all projects have been completed,” Polishchuk said. “But the same kind of issue, we didn’t get invoices yet. Even financially, it’s close to 50 per cent completed, even though some of the projects are 100 per cent completed. We’ll see the much more clear picture [in] quarter three.”

Mayor Ames Leslie praised Polishchuk and the town’s management team for keeping projects under budget despite inflation, tariffs and currency pressures.

“A lot of the purchases that are complete have been done under budget in a world of high inflation and the US-Canadian dollar trades and tariffs,” he said.

“For them to be able to make some purchases of mowers that are made of steel, or could eventually be parts of them coming from the States, to have those projects come in under budget, is what everybody hopes for.”

He said careful spending now could help support major infrastructure in the future.

“If we can save some money, that will help pay for large projects like the renovation on the hockey rink or building a new park,” Leslie said.

Council voted unanimously to approve the report. A clearer financial picture is expected in the third quarter.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com