Sudbury projecting $3.9M year-end surplus

Months after projecting a major budget shortfall, Sudbury city staff say the city is now in a position to finish the year with a surplus — thanks to provincial funding, as well at the city's cost cutting measures.

Back in June, staff forecast a year-end deficit of $14 million, thanks to lost revenue and extra spending because of COVID-19. 

At that time, the city had already found some savings through measures like not filling vacant staff positions, and cancelling the summer student employment programs. The city went on to make additional service cuts and adjustments.

Staff say without any cost-saving measures, the city would have incurred a deficit of approximately $20 million by the end of the year. 

"We took decisive action very early on, and we responded to what we could see was a very significant revenue problem," said Mayor Brian Bigger during a finance committee meeting Tuesday evening.

"With less users, with COVID, everybody in lockdown, it was a very significant problem that we had, but we responded very quickly."

In August the province announced $12.7 million of funding to help the city manage COVID-related expenses. The city's manager of financial planning and budgeting, Steve Facey, says that money means the city won't have to use money from its reserves to cover its 2020 costs. 

"In August when we presented the year end position, the organization was anticipating a $6.2 million deficit. With the Safe Restart Agreement funding [from the province] … the city is now able to contribute $3.9 million to a reserve." 

While the financial picture for 2020 is looking much better than several months ago, the city will have to find ways to continue to save money in 2021, with financial pressures expected to continue. 

On Tuesday, the finance committee voted on a number of directions to give staff for priorities to consider as they work toward the 2021 budget.