Predicted Razor Slim Surplus For 2020 Turns Into Deficit

Just three short months ago the City was celebrating a razor thin $30,000 operating budget surplus with a proviso or an asterisk.

An asterisk that warned the City’s finances may still have some bills coming in that had the potential to wipe out the surplus.

“Although we have a small surplus at this time it can certainly change (once the year end is officially finalized),” finance director Brian Acker said in February and the asterisk of change came true.

At Monday evening’s Council meeting Acker reminded elected officials about the proviso or asterisk from the February announcement that things could change once the 2020 financial statement was finalized.

If the surplus had been maintained - once all of the bills were totaled up - Moose Jaw would have been one of only two cities in the province to have a 0 (zero) percent tax increase plus also a operating budget surplus.

At Monday evening’s regular meeting of Council the financial reports saw that $30,000 surplus changed into an anticipated $194,000 deficit for 2020.

The deficit will be funded from the accumulated surplus account.

The last time the City ran an annual budget deficit was in 2018.