City Council Preview - What's on the Agenda for the June 20 Meeting?

A special council meeting will be held tonight. In fact, it's not really a council meeting, it's the shareholders' meeting for Guelph Municipal Holdings Inc., and it just so happens that city council and the GMHI shareholders have the same make-up. Much of the information to be presented tonight is already known, but still questions persist about the management of Guelph's big ticket assets.

2015 Consolidated Audited Financial Statements of Guelph Municipal Holdings Inc. (“GMHI”) - The good news is that GMHI reported a net income of $2.8 million for fiscal 2015, which is a 180 degree improvement over 2014 when it reported a $2.33 million loss. The loss last year was attributed to covering the commodity costs of power to the wholesale electricity market, which had yet to be recovered from ratepayers by the end of the fiscal year. For Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc. (“GHESI”) it was also a good year, with $5.2 million in net income, which is inline with 2014 despite lower maintenance costs and a milder winter. The black sheep of the GMHI, Envida, lost three-quarters of a million dollars, and that's before various assets to be written down are taken into account, which looks more like a net loss of $9.4 million. For 2016, the GHESI says they will focus on "making prudent capital expenditures on its distribution grid," while the Board ensures that Envida projects "are firmly contained and that any new investments in projects will be supported by a business case."

Appointment of Auditors - At its June 8 meeting, the GMHI Board approved a recommendation being made to the City for the re-appointment of KPMG LLP, as the Auditor of GMHI for the fiscal year 2016.

GMHI Annual Report to the City

***Unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict, there will be no live blog for this meeting.