The City of Lloydminster is looking to replace its financial software.
Administration is proposing a borrowing bylaw in the amount of $5.5 million for a five-year term at a maximum interest rate of six per cent to pay for the new software.
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The city will evaluate interest rates before deciding to borrow.
“The city will certainly evaluate the interest rates over the course of time to make sure we’re obtaining an advantageous interest rate,” said Adèle Wakaruk, the city’s director of corporate services.
Once the city completes a borrowing application, it always bases it on the prior year’s audited financial statement. The total debt from the most recent financial statement was just below 40 per cent.
“The total debt outstanding as of our most recent financial statement is 38 per cent of the debt limit, so $62.4 million. The total debt servicing (of) this would be the annual payments of principal and interest is $5.98 million,” said Wakaruk.
Coun. Michele Charles Gustafson asked how long the previous software was in use.
“When we implemented DiamondGP, our municipal and financial software, we implemented this starting in 2016 and we are hoping to divest of it in 2029,” she said.
Charles Gustafson followed up by asking if they had the software for as long as they expected to.
“We didn’t anticipate Microsoft would no longer be supporting DiamondGP, so I think this is a little bit earlier than we anticipated,” said Wakaruk.
“That being said, when we’re evaluating this project, part of the scope of the project is to understand the market and what kind of longevity we could obtain from a new software.”
Administration explained what the software does and its importance to the city.
“This software performs many different functions for the city. Primarily, it serves as a financial system, meaning we record all our accounts payable, accounts receivable, all the money coming into the city, all the money going out,” said Wakaruk. “It ensures we can prepare financial reports in accordance with the legislation and also in accordance with accounting standards.
“There are many other municipal services included, such as utility billing, ensuring our residents are provided with a utility bill on a consistent manner, our property taxation, ensuring we send that out and it’s calculated correctly in accordance with legislation. There’s also provisions for permitting, so our permitting department leverages this software. Then, there’s some other municipal components that are smaller such as business licenses.”
Wakaruk noted this financial software is the core tool they use.
Of note, if the term of borrowing is five years or less, the borrowing bylaw does not have to be advertised.
Council accepted the report as information, with plans to bring it back to a future meeting for a decision.
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