• City Hall
  • Province House
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Investigation
  • Journalism
  • Commentary
  • @Tim_Bousquet
  • Log In

Halifax Examiner

An independent, adversarial news site in Halifax, NS

  • Home
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Commenting policy
  • Archives
  • Contact us
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Manage your account
  • Swag
You are here: Home / Featured / Province closes the books on the 2019-20 fiscal year

Province closes the books on the 2019-20 fiscal year

August 20, 2020 By Tim Bousquet Leave a Comment

Photo: Halifax Examiner

The province has closed the books on the 2019-20 fiscal year, which ended March 31.

The major takeaways:

• Expenses exceeded revenues by $105,700 ($11,486,100 compared to $11,380,400), but the budget is considered “balanced” thanks to $108,000 in “Consolidation Adjustments” — which as I understand it, relate mostly to prior year adjustments for project budgets, and in particular the Boat Harbour remediation project. In any event, the 2019-20 surplus is $2.3 million.

• The provincial debt increased by $249.4 million from March 31, 2019, bringing the total provincial debt to $15.24 billion, the first time it has passed the $15 billion mark. The cost of debt servicing last year was $818.2 million, and debt as a percentage of the province’s GDP has declined from 33.8% to 33.1%.

• About $120 million was incurred in COVID-19-related expenses, the bulk of which is $100 million allocated to Dalhousie University to administer. $50 million has already been transferred to the university, and the second $50 million will be moved over soon, but all of it is accounted for in the 2019/20 budget. The exact expenditures from that fund will depend on the applications for relief submitted by businesses. See the entire allocation of the $120 million here. A much larger fiscal hit related to COVID will occur in the current fiscal year, at a cost now estimated to exceed $800 million.

• The total costs of the Boat Harbour remediation project is now projected to be $291.9 million, and about $31.9 million has already been spent on it, leaving a balance of $260 million.

• Even though Northern Pulp Mill is now seeking creditor protection in bankruptcy court, finance staff said the status of the outstanding $85 million in loans to Northern Pulp has not changed.

• Bay Ferries was paid $22,028,828 in 2019-20. That amount covers both the management fee collected by the company for (not) operating the ferry, and the costs of upgrading the Bar Harbor ferry terminal, but neither of those costs are detailed. Making public the amount of the management fee is the subject of a court action initiated by the Progressive Conservative party.

• Events East, the crown corporation that operates the Halifax Convention Centre, reported an annual deficit of $5,472,968, to be split between the city and province.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House

About Tim Bousquet

Tim Bousquet is the editor and publisher of the Halifax Examiner. email: [email protected]; Twitter

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Brian Borcherdt. Photo: Anna Edwards-Borcherdt

Brian Borcherdt came of age in Yarmouth in the 1990s. When he arrived in Halifax, the city’s famous music scene was already waning, and worse, the music he made was rejected by the cool kids anyway. After decades away from Nova Scotia, he and his young family have settled in the Annapolis Valley, where he’ll zoom in to chat with Tara about his band Holy Fuck’s endlessly delayed tour, creating the Dependent Music collective, and the freedom and excitement of the improvised music he’s making now. Plus: Bringing events back in 2021.

The Tideline is advertising-free and subscriber-supported. It’s also a very good deal at just $5 a month. Click here to support The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

Sign up for email notification

Sign up to receive email notification of new posts on the Halifax Examiner. Note: signing up for email notification of new posts is NOT subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.

Recent posts

  • COVID update: team sport competitions can resume; 4 new cases announced in Nova Scotia on Friday, Jan. 22 January 22, 2021
  • Three times in the last year, violent men have been driving look-alike police cars January 22, 2021
  • Stirring the pot: more Canadians cooking with cannabis during pandemic January 22, 2021
  • Neighbours appeal approval of Halifax development where demolition started before eviction was complete January 21, 2021
  • 2 cases of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Thursday, Jan. 21 January 21, 2021

Commenting policy

All comments on the Halifax Examiner are subject to our commenting policy. You can view our commenting policy here.

Copyright © 2021