Saint John Projects Surplus For 2019

The city of Saint John is projecting a surplus of around $2.3 million for its 2019 general operating budget.

City staff presented an update of the year-end forecast at Wednesday’s finance committee meeting.

Jodie Forgie, a senior financial analyst with the city, said revenue is projected to be $2.5 million over budget while expenses are forecast to be $300,000 over budget.

The surplus means the expected “new deal” funding from the province, designed to help address the city’s structural deficit, would be $4.8 million instead of $7.1 million.

But Kevin Fudge, the city’s finance commissioner, cautioned the projections are based on numbers from the end of July and could change as the year goes on.

“We presume that the forecasted results will trend in the same direction as they’ve been trending over the first seven months and they’re based on the best information that we have as of now,” said Fudge.

According to a staff presentation, the services areas with the highest forecasted surpluses are finance and administration services, transportation and environment services, and public safety services.

Coun. David Merrithew, who chairs the committee, said the projected surplus shows the city has continued to work hard on addressing its deficits.

“Although we could have sat back and used this money, we did not do so. We’ve continued to do what we should be doing, staff has continued to work hard on it, and we’ve reduced that seven-odd-million-dollars to just under five now,” said Merrithew, referring to the financial assistance from the province.

City staff will present committee members with another update in November, Forgie said.