2013 THE CITY OF WINNIPEG ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT Vision To be a vibrant and healthy city which places its highest priority in quality of life for all its citizens. Corporate Mission Working together to achieve affordable, responsive and innovative public service. Table of Contents INTRODUCTORY SECTION Message from the Mayor ..................................................4 Message from the Acting Chief Administrative Officer ....6 City Council ........................................................................9 Senior Administrators ........................................................9 Winnipeg’s Economic Profile ...........................................10 Service Highlights ............................................................ 17 FINANCIAL SECTION Report from the Chief Financial Officer Financial Statement Discussion and Analysis ............................................28 Responsibility for Financial Reporting .............................45 Auditors’ Report ...............................................................46 Consolidated Financial Statements ................................ 47 Five-Year Review .............................................................78 CITY CONTACT INFORMATION ........................... 81 Manitoba Cataloguing in Publication Data. Winnipeg (MB). Corporate Finance Dept. Annual Report. Annual Report year ends December 31. Continues: Winnipeg (Man.). Finance Dept. Annual Report. ISSN: 1201-8147 = Annual Report-City of Winnipeg. 1. Winnipeg (Man.) - Appropriations and expenditures-Periodicals. 2. Finance, Public - Manitoba-Winnipeg-Periodicals HJ9014.M36W56 352.409712743 CITY OF WINNIPEG 2013 ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT 3 Nuit Blanche Winnipeg, Culture Days Manitoba Winnipeg’s skyline Portage Avenue Opening of the new WPS K-9 facility hood streets in all parts of the city. City Council is working Message from the Mayor towards a long-term vision to move our streets from a repair deficit to a position of ongoing maintenance. With a contin- Winnipeg is a City of growth. ued focus on street renewal in our budget, we will see a no- From our economy to our popu- ticeable difference in the state of our infrastructure in only a lation, with new residential, rec- few years. reational and commercial devel- opments taking place across the Municipal infrastructure forms the foundation of our econo- city, Winnipeg is experiencing my, and is important to residents and businesses alike, which an increasing attractiveness as a is why City Council is making record financial commitments place to live, work, play and in- to fix our streets while ensuring our property taxes remain vest. among the lowest in Canada. In 2013, our City continued The City of Winnipeg completed several major infrastructure to achieve new milestones. Housing starts in Winnipeg ap- projects in 2013. In November, Winnipeg Transit opened a proached 4,000 units – a level we haven’t experienced in new parking and service garage, which positions our City for more than a quarter century. Total declared construction val- transit growth. In October, we celebrated the official open- ue for building permits in the City of Winnipeg reached a ing of the Disraeli Active Transportation Bridge. The Disraeli record $1.8 billion in 2013, as a result of both public and pri- Bridges project is one of the largest bridge projects in the vate investment. There is good reason for investors to look to history of the City, and was completed with the support of Winnipeg, as our city continues to rank as the most cost-com- a federal-provincial-municipal partnership. The active trans- petitive city in Western Canada as well as the U.S. Midwest. portation bridge gives cyclists and pedestrians safe and easy access between downtown and the northeast quadrant of the Renewing public infrastructure remains a key focus for the city. Also in 2013, the City wrapped up another bridge proj- City of Winnipeg. ect, with the completion of the Sturgeon Road Twin Bridges In 2013, the City of Winnipeg implemented a new, long-term across Sturgeon Creek. Winnipeg is preparing to commence plan to fix Winnipeg’s streets, sidewalks and back lanes. As another major infrastructure project, the Polo Park Area In- part of the budget process, City Council adopted a one per frastructure Improvement Project, expected to get underway cent property tax increase dedicated each year to neighbour- in 2014. 4 CITY OF WINNIPEG 2013 ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT Millennium Library Transcona Centennial Spray Pad Of course, we remain committed to continue our investment collected, largely through the new curbside yard waste col- in Winnipeg’s social and recreation infrastructure. In 2013, lection program. The new, bigger recycling carts resulted in the Community Centre Renovation Fund approved nearly a Winnipeggers recycling 17 per cent more than in 2011. To- million dollars in grants to support upgrades, safety improve- gether, we are building a cleaner and more environmentally ments and repairs at 23 different community centres. City sustainable Winnipeg. Council created this fund in 2012 in order to allow commu- The winter of 2013-2014 will long be remembered for its bru- nity centres and their volunteer teams to focus on program- tal cold. As a result of extreme temperatures frost penetrated ming, as opposed to searching out ways to finance repairs. unusually deep, eight to nine feet under pavement surfaces, Renovations are also taking place on a larger scale. For each causing many water pipes in the City to freeze. Thawing wa- of the past five years, the City has invested approximately ter pipes and providing a temporary water supply to citizens $10 million to renovate and improve community centres. became a city-wide priority, with staff from every civic de- Three new spray pads were installed in the spring and sum- partment supporting this emergency effort. mer of 2013, opening water play areas at Westdale, Transco- Even on our toughest problems, we work and progress to- na and the St. James Assiniboia Centennial pool sites. While gether. Our economy is strong and growing, and there are for a number of years we had only two of these facilities, we more opportunities for businesses, job-seekers and creative now have more than a dozen of these spray pads for families people, every day. Over the past decade, our skyline and our to enjoy across Winnipeg. We continue to upgrade several horizon have brightened, as iconic reminders of our past, like civic pools and have partnered with the Province and Kins- the Union Tower and the Metropolitan Theatre have been re- men Club in 2014, to re-open the Sherbrook Pool as early as stored and new icons, like the Canadian Museum for Human late 2015. Rights, have risen. Our libraries continue to be renewed under our long-term City Council is committed to continue seeking solutions and redevelopment strategy for public libraries and in 2013 sev- creating opportunities to ensure Winnipeg remains the great- eral renovations were completed, including the St. Boniface est city in the world to live, work, play and invest. Library and the St. James Library. 2013 represents the first full year of the City of Winnipeg’s new garbage and recycling collection system. Under the new system, Winnipeggers diverted 55 per cent more waste from landfills. Approximately 23,000 tonnes of yard waste were Mayor Sam Katz CITY OF WINNIPEG 2013 ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT 5 Centre Village have more opportunities than ever before to participate and Message from share ideas: in face-to-face budget talks; on the Internet; and on the street, via our roving budget Talk Truck. the Acting Chief Moody’s Investor Service noted, in its most recent credit review: “The city’s multi-year budget planning process has Administrative Officer helped Winnipeg post a series of positive operating outcomes. The forward looking planning has also allowed the city to plan OurWinnipeg, our City’s offi- for capital spending in advance which has assisted in keep- cial plan and 25-year blueprint ing the debt burden relatively low and stable.” Standard and for the future, is the most com- Poor’s Ratings Services, in its November 2013 review, also prehensively consultative long- made note of the City’s sound financial management. Both term plan for community de- Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s reaffirmed the City of Win- velopment ever undertaken in nipeg’s credit rating in 2013, at Aa1 and AA, respectively. Canada – having received both the Manitoba Planning Excel- Careful planning has helped us meet City Council’s goals lence Award, and the Canadian with respect to some very significant infrastructure projects Institute of Planners’ Award for over the past year. For example, in 2013, we completed the Planning Excellence. As a Public Disraeli Active Transportation Bridge project, on-time and Service, our goal in 2013 has been to help City Council and on-budget. This project, which received an Association of the community build on OurWinnipeg’s vision of social, en- Consulting Engineering Companies of Manitoba Award of vironmental, and economic sustainability. Merit, is a good example of the kind of integrated planning OurWinnipeg envisions: sound infrastructure, that provides Better planning has been crucial to the strong performance aesthetic and environmental benefits to the community as you see recorded in this Annual Financial Report, and we are a whole, achieved in a fiscally responsible way. This is, of continuing to improve our budget planning processes. For course, in the context of developing