The world's economic woes continue to pile up, but the City of Richmond's finances looks positively favourable in comparison.
The city published the results of its second quarter performance this week.
And if all goes to plan between now and Dec. 31, the city's number crunchers are forecasting a surplus of $1.7 million.
In her report to city council, finance system support manager Lisa Skippen said that the city's second quarter results are "trending favourably as evidenced in the number of housing starts, development applications received and business licenses issued, as compared to the previous quarter."
As ever, the housing market plays a significant role in the revenues for the city and Richmond's stability in the housing sector has generated more building permit revenues.
Indeed, building permit revenues are
up 13.2 per cent on the same period last year, from $1.5 million to $1.9 million.
Richmond has also realized an increase in business activity, especially in the industrial sector, where vacancy rates have decreased from 5.7 per cent last year to 4.4 per cent this year.
Making the industrial figures even more impressive is the fact that total new space available has actually increased over the last year by 250,000 square feet.
And although development applications for the quarter have remained constant with 2010 levels, the actual related revenues have increased 36.7 per cent to $400,000.
The number of new business licenses being issued is also indica-tive of the growth still being experienced in Richmond, according to the report, with a total of 1,038 being issued - a 10.4 per cent rise on last year.
Revenues from parking permit and enforcement is also on the up, rising slightly from last year to $1 million so far this year, largely due to increased efforts by parking enforcement staff.
A 10.7 per cent spike in gaming revenues to $7 million for the yearto-date has also helped the quarterly figures.
