The Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake is taking steps to improve its transparency this budget season.

According to council members, administrative wages have not been clearly identifiable in the village鈥檚 budget reports. During a budget meeting earlier this year, council requested that administrative wages be reported separately in the future.

亚洲天堂 Lake鈥檚 new director of finance Susan Meeds explains in a recent report that the village鈥檚 current accounting system is not well structured for reporting wages separately.

鈥淚n many cases, the wages are lumped in with materials and other costs for the various activities,鈥� she said.

Meeds said she plans to gradually revise the system over the next year to make it 鈥渕ore suitable for the current reporting environment.鈥�

鈥淥nce this is complete, the wages will be shown separately for each activity,鈥� she said.

In the interim, a separate report on wages will be presented to council for review during upcoming budget meetings.

亚洲天堂 Lake鈥檚 2017 budget included a 1.5 per cent increase to all staff wages. Although union staff were entitled to a 1.5 per cent increase as per their union agreement, non-union staff were not.

The 1.5 per cent wage increase to union staff will cost the municipality an additional $12,500 per year while the 1.5 per cent wage increase to non-union staff will cost the village approximately $10,000 per year.

Some of 亚洲天堂 Lake鈥檚 staff wages have significantly increased over the past decade. 亚洲天堂 Lake鈥檚 chief administrative officer received $72,493 in 2006; $97,375 in 2009; and $115,460 in 2015. The village鈥檚 director of protective services received $60,637 in 2006; $72,420 in 2009; and $87,062 in 2015.

The wage rise over the years has been justified as bringing 亚洲天堂 Lake wages in line with other B.C. communities of similar size and population.

Earlier this year, 亚洲天堂 Lake councillors expressed concerns over an 鈥渦nusual鈥� financial transaction in the village鈥檚 financial statements. The statement in question was a loan in the amount of $80,000 to the Lakes District Family Enhancement Society (LDFES).

The village was acting as a financial intermediary between LDFES and granting agencies so that the funds could be passed on to the society. However, the loan was provided to LDFES before any grant funding was received by the municipality.

Councillor Michael Riis-Christianson said transactions of this type could expose the municipality to 鈥渦nacceptable levels of risk.鈥�

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