October snowstorm, cleanup weigh heavily on city finances

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This article was published 05/01/2020 (1773 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the cleanup and repair of damage from the October snowstorm that paralyzed Winnipeg continues to trickle on, the city is also scrambling to clean up the mess it left on the bottom line.

The City of Winnipeg announced Monday it’s projecting a year-end deficit of $6.7 million — driven, in large part, by the unprecedented late-fall blast.

“The city would be projecting a year-end surplus had it not been for the October storm and the money lost because of that storm… It’s had a significant impact,” said Coun. Scott Gillingham, chairman of the finance committee.

Heavy, wet snow pummelled much of Manitoba beginning Oct. 10, resulting in more than a quarter-million Hydro customers losing power as tree limbs and power lines were downed throughout the province.

The weather event, which caused significant damage inside the Perimeter Highway, is believed to have cost Winnipeg roughly $10 million.

An update on the operational and budget impacts, as well as the city’s latest financial status report, will be presented to the finance committee Friday.

It’s believed approximately 30,000 trees on city-owned land were destroyed or damaged; an unknown number of trees on private property were affected, as well. The city had to call in crews from numerous other municipalities to help clear debris.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister declared a state of emergency.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman called on the province when speaking to reporters Monday.

“We haven’t yet heard from the province on disaster financial assistance and where that’s at. We are, like a lot of municipalities, looking for provincial and federal officials to work collaboratively with us,” Bowman said.

“We expect at times of emergency that federal and provincial government officials will provide assistance to the City of Winnipeg — like they do for other communities across Canada and throughout the province.”

City council previously voted to have the public service apply for disaster financial assistance if a program is launched.

If Winnipeg is able to get financial aid, it could help chip away at the projected year-end deficit. But even if that doesn’t come to pass, Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) said he’s hopeful the city will find other ways to save money.

“Between the end of November and the end of December, during each of the last five years, there’s always been an improvement in December. Some of those improvements can be related to final numbers on expenses, fuel savings within departments, vacancy management savings, salary savings. It could be increases in revenues,” Gillingham said.

“There’s always an improvement in December. The administration has said they are optimistic there will also be improvements this year.”

If the final numbers show a deficit, the city will pull resources from its financial stabilization fund — which effectively amounts to a rainy day fund — in order to balance the books, Gillingham said.

The city is legally required to balance its budget and is not permitted to run a deficit under the City of Winnipeg Charter.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe

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