City of Winnipeg posts $19.5M surplus for 2018 operations

The City of Winnipeg has posted its largest budget surplus in recent memory thanks to savings across most branches of the municipal government.

At the end of Dec. 31, the city posted a surplus of $19.5 million on its $1.08-billion operating budget, which works out to revenue exceeding expenses by 1.8 per cent.

Lower-than-expected charges on city debt, lower-than-expected police salary costs anda mosquito-free summer all contributed to the budget surplus, controller Kaleigh Wills wrote in a report to council's finance committee.

City policy is for the entire $19.5-million surplus to betransferred to the city's rainy-day fund, known as the financial stabilization reserve, but council has the option of diverting some of that money elsewhere.

• Winnipeg budget surplus now expected to be $14.2M for 2018

The final financial report for 2018 also reveals Winnipeg Transit posted a budget surplus of $13.6 million last year, partly because of increased fare revenue and lower salary costs due to high staff turnover.

The transit surplus is over and above the city's operating-budget surplus. Council plans to use some of the money to cover the $3.2-million cost of installing driver-safety shields on Winnipeg buses.

Council may devote some of the remaining surplus to a new low-income bus pass or allow transit managers to allocate the funds as they see fit.