The city expects to have an extra $3-million left over at the end of the year.
City Council heard Monday night that so far, city staff are projecting around $1.8-million in extra COVID-19-related funding and $1.2-million for expenses unrelated to the pandemic.
City Treasurer Linda Evans tells City Council that they will put it aside to deal with any surprise costs this year or in the future.
“Any excess favourable variance this year, we will put it in the stabilization reserve fund, as we do for any favourable variance in a year,” she explains.
A portion of the COVID-related money can only be used for transit and has to be used up this year, but Evans says she’s pushing to change that.
“I can certainly say through our [provincial] treasurers group, we’re trying to use whatever means we can to advocate to allow us to use that money into 2022 if there are funds left over,” she says.
The largest negative impacts on the city’s budget so far this year have been $800,000 in lost parking revenue and $600,000 in lost revenue from the Casino. The city is also counting $100,000 in unexpected legal and administrative costs for the Police Services Board.
