City's $8.7M surplus 'artificial,' Winnipeg finance chair says

The City of Winnipeg is currently runninga surplus of $8.7 million this year and expects it to grow, a staff report says, but finance committee chairCoun. Marty Morantzisn't celebrating just yet.

The surplus is "artificial" and doesn't give a real picture of the city's accounts, he said, becausethe city takes cash from several reserve funds to balance its books.

"So every year we draw down on our savings," Morantz said. "Of course I am always happy when we have a surplus, butwhat I've been saying is it's artificial in a way, because we are not really paying for our expenses through recurring revenue sources."

The city faces a structural deficit it's bringing in less money than it's spendingthat could grow to more than $70millionnext year, hesaid. New sources of revenue are neededand Morantz hopes the province follows the lead of the new federal government and considers sharing some revenue.

"You saw the [election] platform of the Liberal government this year, reaching out to municipalities, and I am really hoping that, with the upcoming provincial election, that the [Manitoba] political parties take a very close look at urban issues," he said.

A city administration reportbeing presented to the finance committeeon Thursday states the surplus is based on numbers as of Sept. 30.

That is expected toincrease over the remainder of the year "through continued efforts to control expenses without impacting the delivery of core services," the report states.

During the past four or five years, the projected surplus increasedbetween$3.9 million and $15.5 million from Sept.30 to Dec. 31.

Last year, the city was sitting with a $14.9-million deficit in September and ended with a surplus of $700,000.