Battlefords chamber discusses the Power Hour, gives update at AGM

“I encourage all of the members to come out to that,” Machniak said. “It’s certainly an opportunity for members to hear from all levels of government and ask questions that might [involve] cross-governmental ministries and files.”

On the financial side, for the chamber’s 2020 budget, the organization is anticipating revenues of $301,000 and expenses of $276,000, for a projected surplus in the general account of $25,000 for expected initiatives and events the chamber plans to host this year.

Swanson, Gryba, and Company Chartered Accountants presented the financial statements for the 2019 year-end.

The chamber had a small shortfall of $553 for the 2019 fiscal year, which Machniak said is very close to having a balance to what was budgeted.

“One of the challenges for the chamber in any financial regime is that memberships typically are paid for at the beginning of the year,” she said. “So by the end of the year we are just waiting to get started for the next year again, but there are not a lot of events or items that happen near the end of the year. So it really is a bit of a balancing act for us. So I’m pretty happy with how we came in.”

Machniak also noted the Battlefords Business Excellence Awards (BBEX) and other programs have their own budgeted fund that are monitored by the chamber directors throughout the year.

She added the BBEX awards was a smaller affair in 2019, compared to the prior year which marked the 25th anniversary, so the surplus in that fund was a bit less as a result.

One of the chambers ongoing goals is to bring in more members and promote chamber events. Currently the chamber has about 335 members.

“In this day and age of communications it’s important to get information out to those that are non members,” Machniak said. “We used to do a newsletter that went out to everybody, every business through the postal service. So now we’re going to basically start that process again, although it won’t be a newsletter. We’re going to start that process of communicating with all businesses in the community, whether they are members or not.”

–

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW

by Angela Brown

Battlefords chamber discusses the Power Hour, gives update at AGM

What's Trending