THUNDER BAY – The municipal government is on track to finish the year with a small deficit of half a million dollars, driven by even larger projected overspending by the Thunder Bay Police Service.
The projected deficit would amount to around a fifth of a percentage point on the city’s roughly $300 million net budget.
The deficit was attributed by city staff to spending by the Thunder Bay Police Service, which is projected to go $800,000 over budget, an expense that would be picked up by the city.
The estimated overage comes on top of a police budget the city had already increased by seven per cent this year, reaching $55 million.
Excluding the projected police deficit, the city would be on track to post a surplus of $300,000.
The police overage is “primarily due to wages and benefits as well as WSIB,” the city reported, and partially offset by higher-than-anticipated grants and paid duty services.
A projected surplus of $300,000 in the city’s long-term care operations, primarily due to one-time additional funding for Jasper Place, would help compensate for the policing overage, bringing the overall deficit down to half a million.
The estimates came in a first quarter financial variance report from city staff.
The report also recommends the city expand fees at the Mapleward landfill, which it says is losing money and on track to exhaust its financial reserves by 2024.
The city projects a deficit of $900,000 in solid waste this year, chalking that up to a shortfall in user fees, which staff said have been on a “continued downward trend” since the onset of COVID-19.
Based on that trend, staff estimate the city will exhaust its landfill reserve fund, currently sitting around $400,000, in 2024.
“For the operation to be financially sustainable, costs for handling and disposal of waste must be recovered from all users crossing the scale, which is currently not the case,” the report states.
The city will update its solid waste financial plan this year, with a cost recovery review potentially leading to increased landfill fees.
This year's deficit in solid waste is projected to be offset by a surplus of $1 million across water and wastewater services, attributed to vacancy savings and higher-than-budgeted water revenues.
No significant variance is projected for boater services.
