Audit says Saint John is in much better shape financially

It appears the City of Saint John's financial situation continues to improve after years of debt crisis.

In 2018, the city's net debt was just over $330 million, and Saint John was in a position where balancing its budget was increasingly difficult.

But according to the audited financial statements for 2021 brought forward at Monday's council meeting, that debt has dropped to less than half the 2018 total, at about $159 million.

Coun. Gary Sullivan, the head of the finance committee, told council Monday night the numbers show the plan is working.

"The most important note at the end of the day is, following the financial plan we have has us so we're not going hat in hand to the provincial government anymore looking for backstop," Sullivan said.

"We're able to plan moving forward and then we can make choices about the projects that we want to do to continue to move the city forward."

The general fund operating budget for 2021 shows a surplus of $1.75 million during a year that saw increased costs because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As well, there was more than $3.5 million in COVID relief payments and $2.6 million in increased property taxes, plus a few other unexpected windfalls.

Most of that money was moved to reserve funds, increasing the city's reserves to more than $33 million, "which is good because in 2015 we had almost no reserves," Sullivan said.

Saint John Water also ended up with a surplus of about $1.5 million.

"Of course, it wouldn't be a financial update with all this good news if it doesn't come with the 'But,'" Sullivan said.

"Here's the 'But' — we still have $111 million of debt that needs to be repaid over the next five years.

"And we still are in 'infrastructure deficit,' which means our assets are surpassing their useful life faster than we are replacing them."

Even so, it's a big change for a city that was only recently looking for ways to cut its budget year-after-year, by as much as $10 million.