Saint John launches financial restructuring effort

Mayor Don Darling says he wants afinancial restructuring plan for Saint John, believingthe reforms proposed by the province won't deliver financial stability to the revenue-strapped city.

The mayor made his request to council this week, askingthe finance committee to develop the restructuring plan for presentation in September.

Council put financial restructuring on holdin 2018, as the city looked into alternatives to making major cuts to the budget.

The city now expects to have a deficit of $12 million in 2021, after a $22.8-million financial assistance package from the province runs out.

The mayor believes the time has come to bring restructuring, including budget cuts, back to the table. He referred to this as Plan B.

'Ugly Plan B'

"We keep talking about ugly Plan B let's move from illustrative to hard scenarios," he said.

He said the plan should address 11 major barriers, including the current property tax system,detailed indocuments last December for the current city budget.

A report presented to council by the provincial government on July 11 called Sustaining Saint Johnproposed a package of reforms, including steps to reduce labour costs, reforms of binding arbitration an requiring outlying communities to share capital costs for regional recreation and sport facilities.

City staff have said the estimates of potential savings in the report were optimistic.

Delayed rejecting proposals

The majority of councillors looked to reject the reform package in Julybut a last-minute motion by Coun. Donna Reardon pushed the vote for 30 days.

On Monday, Darling's call for afinancial restructuring plan was met by approval from council and the motion passed unanimously. Many councillors, including Coun. Blake Armstrong, said this was long overdue.

"Let's get to it. As I keep repeating, numbers never lie. We have to act on this."

Coun. John MacKenzie also spoke in favour of a restructuring plan, saying the city can't rely on "guesstimates" savings presented by the province.

"If things work out and those promises and those guesstimates are right, good," he said."But until then I think we have to look at the worst-case scenario."

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Themayor has been trying to engage with the citizens of Saint John about the financial situation of the city and where he believes the Sustaining Saint John report falls short.

He has held two publicevents and has beenengaging with residents on social media. The mayor has alsobeen encouraging citizens to write their local MLAs.