‘Our Buffer Is Gone’: City Offsets Projected COVID-19 Losses

Saint John’s city manager says they need to be extremely cautious with their finances because of COVID-19.

In April, the city had projected to lose between $2.9 million and $5.9 million in revenue this year due to the impacts of the pandemic.

City staff have refined the projection to $4.5 million and expect to offset the loss through savings.

But John Collin told the city’s finance committee Thursday there is still a certain level of risk.

“There is still five months or so left in this year, and as everyone has mentioned, we still do not know what COVID will throw at us next,” said Collin,

Dawn Arbour, the city’s senior finance manager, said they have been able to mitigate the revenue loss through a series of savings such as reductions in temporary labour, training and roadwork.

But the biggest anticipated savings to the budget is in wages and benefits, said Arbour, where they expect to save $2.1 million.

Collin said despite offsetting the projected revenue loss with savings, there is no wiggle room left in the budget.

“I need to caution committee members that our buffer is gone,” he said. “We have restored as many services as we possibly can. We are now predicting a balanced budget to the end of the year, but without any wiggle room, without any reserve, without any contingency.”

Mayor Don Darling said city staff deserve credit for their work to offset the projected revenue loss.

“Wrestling $4.5 million to the ground is not easy,” said Darling.

“I certainly want to acknowledge that some people are very disappointed, including all of us, that we’re not quite as beautiful as we normally would be, but this isn’t a normal year.”

Darling said they are still waiting to hear details about the Safe Restart Agreement between the federal and provincial governments to see what they may receive for financial support.