The City of Moose Jaw had a surplus of $184,744 in its general revenue fund in 2019, according to the city's audited financial statements.

The statements were presented to city council on Monday night.

The city had over $49.15 million in revenue go into general revenue fund, slightly higher than the $48.51 million that was budgeted.

Director of Financial Services Brian Acker noted that licence and permits came $170,742 under budget because parking meter receipts and building permits came in below expected levels.

Law enforcement revenues were above budget by $218,776 due to the receipt of more policing services and provincial funding revenues.

Penalties and fines came below budget by over $300,000 due to the automated speed enforcement revenues being lower than estimated and parking meter fines being down.

Finally, in revenues, recreation and community services were up over $850,000 than budgeted because of the Yara Centre becoming part of the city in 2019.

The city had $48.97 million in expenditures through the general revenue fund, above the $48.51 million budgeted for 2019.

Public works came under budget by nearly $800,000 due to snow removal operations. Something Mayor Fraser Tolmie said needs to be looked at.

"I'm aware in the last couple of budgets we have looked at changing the way that we do things with the snow removal and I think that's a number we have to pay close attention because we did increase the level of service for snow removal," Tolmie said.

"I think that is a number that we will be paying attention to in the next little while or the next councils that come before this city."

Protection to persons and property ended up $758,000 over budget because of increased salary costs for the fire and police services.

Recreation and community services were $780,000 over budget due to the Yara Centre as well. Acker said the good news is the Yara Centre ran at a $4,500 loss last year. He added, compared to other recreation facilities, it is doing very well. Most of the facilities run on 50 per cent subsidies, meaning they are running losses of around $100,000 while the Yara Centre is more-or-less breaking even.

The surplus will flow into the city's accumulated surplus that is sitting at over $1.8 million. Acker said the practice is to maintain the accumulated surplus at about five per cent of the annual operating budget or $2.47 million.

"The recommendation would be to that the accumulated surplus be allowed to grow up to that five per cent level. The reasons for that is unforeseen events that come along," Acker said.

"This year certainly highlights that in terms of the pandemic, no one would have expected that. But, at the end of the day, we very well could end up with a deficit in our operating fund and it'll be covered by that accumulated surplus."

The audited financial statements also included the consolidated statement of operations, which showed the overall picture of revenues and expenditures for 2019.

The city had revenues of about $95.3 million and expenditures of $74.6 million for a surplus of about $20.7 million.

The largest revenue item was municipal taxation which brought in 29.5 per cent of the total revenues. Utilities brought in 26.8 per cent of revenues and contributions, grants and subsidies accounted for 18.6 per cent of revenue.

The largest expenditure was utilities at $21.2 million and it consists of the city's waterworks, sanitary sewer, and Buffalo Pound operations.

The second largest expenditure is the protection to persons and property at $20.5 million. It was up because of increased salaries.

The third largest expenditure was recreation and community services at $15.3 million and it includes the library, art museum, cultural centre, Mosaic Place, Yara Centre, and programs and services under the parks and recreation department.

The full 2019 audited financial statements and public accounts can be found here.