P.E.I. government surplus balloons again

For the second straight year, the P.E.I. government has posted an annual surplus tens of millions of dollars higher than the surplus that had been forecast in the provincial budget.

On Thursday the province revealed its operating surplus for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2019 was $57 million. That's more than four times the most recent forecast of $13.8 million put forward by the previous Liberal government on the eve of the April 23 provincial election.

That $13.8 million figure was an adjustment from an initial projection for a $1.5-million surplus in the province's 2018-19 operating budget.

"We appreciate that we are standing on a strong economic foundation from which we can build and grow our province," said Finance Minister Darlene Compton in a news release.

Once capital building and other costs were factored in, the province was left with an overall surplus of $5.1 million to be applied against the $2.1 billion provincial net debt — a decrease of about a quarter of one per cent of overall debt.

A year ago the Liberals announced a surprise $75-million surplus for 2017-18, which resulted in a $46-million reduction in the province's net debt.

Once again 2018-19 tax revenues came in well over what was listed in the spring 2018 budget by the MacLauchlan government — $46.8 million over — with roughly half that increase coming from corporate income tax.

• Corporate income tax: $23.2 million over budget.
• Sales tax: $13.9 million over budget.
• Personal income tax: $8.5 million over budget.

Overall program spending was $6 million over budget, but there were some much larger swings in individual departments.

• Agriculture and Fisheries: $24.9 million over budget.
• Economic Development and Tourism: $11.1 million under budget.
• Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy: $8.8 million under budget.

Finance Minister Darlene Compton said the surprise surplus "means we're being very conservative with our estimates first of all. But it also tells me how well we're doing as a province. The economy is doing fantastic. The population is growing and all of those things factor into a bigger surplus."

But even with the province posting back-to-back surpluses well above estimates, Compton said her PC government would continue on the course set by the preceding Liberals, with no immediate plans to increase spending or further decrease taxes.

"We want to be fiscally responsible because ... we don't think it's going to keep going, traditionally it doesn't, so we want to prepare for the future," by applying surpluses against the debt, Compton said.

The figures come from the province's audited financial statements, sometimes referred to as the blue books because of the blue cover on the printed versions of the statements.

The audited financial statements are considered the final word on any given fiscal year. By law the province must produce them by Oct. 31.

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