The chair of Saint John’s finance committee is commending city staff for their work over the past few months.
Common Council approved the city’s 2020 financial statements during Monday night’s council meeting.
Coun. Gary Sullivan said the city received a clean audit opinion, despite the pandemic and fallout from the cyberattack.
“This clean audit is a testament to the resilience and professionalism of our staff and the staff of our agencies, boards, and commissions who contribute to these consolidated statements,” Sullivan said.
While the city’s consolidated statements showed a surplus for 2020, the general operating fund ended the year with a $991,000 deficit.
Sullivan said much of that deficit was related to losses caused by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This almost a million dollars could be significant as the way it works is that it would be the first charge against our 2022 budget,” Sullivan said.
“Our sound financial policies and plan, specifically the investment in our reserve funds, means that monies received for COVID funding will be used to make up this difference as we go into planning next year’s budget.”
Sullivan noted that the city increased its reserves by $6.5 million last year and reduced its net debt by nearly $42 million.
He said they also used less than 50 per cent of the $9.3-million set aside by the province in the final year of the short-term financial assistance
Meanwhile, Sullivan said Saint John Water recorded a surplus of $969,999, mainly due to savings in wastewater collection and disposal.
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