COVID-19 Crisis Cash Flow Management Plan and federal funds will help the City navigate unprecedented financial impacts expected to continue into 2021
Winnipeg, MB – The City of Winnipeg’s financial status and forecast report to November 30, 2020, which now factors approved federal Safe Restart Agreement (SRA) funding, is projecting a deficit in the tax-supported operating budget (General Revenue Fund) of $0.4 million. The municipal portion of the SRA funding is $42.2 million and has been fully allocated following Council approval through the 2021 Budget Update. The report will be presented at the meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Finance on January 15, 2020.
The financial status and forecast report to November 30, 2020 also projects a combined year-end operating surplus of $26.1 million for all City departments, with $21.9 million of this surplus residing in City utilities.
Transit is now forecasting a surplus of $3.3 million following the allocation of Transit’s portion of the federal SRA funding, which is $32.3 million. It is anticipated the remaining surplus will be retained in Transit to help address the continued financial uncertainty associated with the pandemic. Transit had previously indicated a $28.7 million projected deficit in the financial status and forecast report to October 31, 2020.
"With nearly $100 million in pandemic-related losses, the City's COVID-19 Crisis Cash Flow Management Plan and assistance from the federal government have helped the City weather the financial storm," said Mayor Brian Bowman. "The recently adopted 2021 Budget Update has set the City on a fiscally prudent path to help mitigate the financial challenges that are expected to continue well into 2021."
“The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an estimated shortfall of almost $92 million for the City of Winnipeg throughout the course of 2020,” said Councillor Scott Gillingham, Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Finance. “The City has been able to address this significant shortfall largely through financial actions taken in response to the pandemic and allocation of federal Safe Restart Agreement funds, leaving the City in a far improved financial position heading into 2021. We continue to exercise fiscal discipline and have approved measures as part of the 2021 Budget Update that will help the City weather the impacts of the pandemic.”
The City’s financial update is publicly available through the Decision Making Information System (DMIS).