Surrey is showing marginally better revenues in the first quarter of 2012 than expected, and departmental costs are down across the board.
City of Surrey staff have tabled the financial report for the first quarter of this year and it shows development growth is just a bit higher than the same period last year.
"Growth in areas such as Campbell Heights (business park), Grandview Heights, as well as construction identified under the Build Surrey program will continue to bolster the city economy," Finance Manager Vivienne Wilke wrote in a report to council on Monday.
Commercial development is lower this quarter compared to the same period last year, with the bulk of development having occurred so far in City Centre and Guildford (a Wal-Mart expansion), and developments in Campbell Heights.
Despite that drop, overall value of new construction is six per cent higher, due mostly to construction of multi-family dwellings.
At the same time, the costs of running the city in the fist quarter is more than $800,000 below budget.
Of that, RCMP shows a favourable variance of $78,000, due mostly to the timing of expenditures.
Surrey Fire Services is $104,000 under-budget, due to staff vacancies and timing of purchases.
Engineering services is $63,000 leaner than what number crunchers figured going into this year, due to expenditure timing and revenues.
Parks and Recreation is $56,000 ahead of what was anticipated, while library services are on budget.
Planning and Development is $147,000 below budget due to staff vacancies and timing of civic facility maintenance.
Mayor and council is $21,000 better than expected.
City grants are $70,000 lower than expected due to the timing of the payments.
The city manager's department is showing a favourable variance of $120,000 due to increased fees, staff vacancies and expenditure timing.
Finance and technology is $139,000 ahead of targets due to timing of payments for technology contracts.
Human resources is $14,000 under-budget, due timing of expenses.
The surpluses are fairly typical, but important for this year's finances, as the city budgeted to borrow $4 million from future surpluses.
More often than not, the city is able to find that savings within the year.
"Staff will continue to closely monitor all areas to ensure that immediate action is taken to address negative variances in relation to the 2012 budget and to reduce, as much as possible by year end, the budgeted transfer from surplus," the staff report states.