Good news from Lodge drives projected city surplus (2024)

The St. Lawrence Lodge budget nightmare turned out to be less gruesome than expected, leading to early projections of a year-end surplus at Brockville City Hall.

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City council’s general committee on Tuesday received the first variance report of 2024, which tracks the city’s budget performance through the end of April, and it points to an overall year-end surplus of more than $604,000.

The encouraging numbers are driven in part by St. Lawrence Lodge, the municipally-owned long-term care facility at the heart of Brockville’s 6.65-per-cent 2024 tax levy increase.

When they put the budget together, city officials expected Brockville’s share of the St. Lawrence Lodge levy to increase by a staggering 63.15 per cent, rising by just over a million dollars to a total of $2,686,264.

On Tuesday, city finance director Lynda Ferguson said St. Lawrence Lodge initially set its budget “very conservatively,” not knowing how much it would get from the provincial government, essentially leading the city to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

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The provincial funding has since been announced, and it’s higher than expected, resulting in a $700,000 reduction in the Lodge’s levy to the city, added Ferguson.

Brockville’s budget called for a draw of $400,000 from the city’s fiscal policy reserve to soften the impact of the originally expected Lodge levy, a reserve contribution that will no longer be needed, while the good news will also create a $300,000 surplus on that budget line, said Ferguson.

The welcome news from St. Lawrence Lodge has led to a projected surplus of$350,000 from the city’s community partners, together with a $50,000 surplus from Brockville Police Service wages due to a secondment, notes Ferguson’s report.

The city’s own departments are currentlyprojecting a surplus of $254,464.

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Together, that points to a projected year-end surplus of $604,464.

Ferguson was quick to issue the customary caution that these figures are only based on a third of the budget year.

“It’s still early in the year, and the final variance can be expected to change as the year progresses,” she told the committee.

Preliminary good news was still good news to general committee members, who welcomed the relief from St. Lawrence Lodge.

“We had hoped that this might happen, but we couldn’t say it specifically,” said Coun. Jane Fullarton, who chairs the general committee.

Still, while the news is good, it nonetheless represents a $300,000 increase in the city’s share of St. Lawrence Lodge funding, in the span of only one year, she added.

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One of the challenges driving escalating long-term care costs is staffing, said Fullarton, as facilities compete for registered nurses and must pay competitive wages.

Mayor Matt Wren said the city took a chance with its plan to dig into reserves to cover the Lodge increase, gambling that it could keep the tax levy lower and count on that long-term care increase coming in lower than expected.

“It turns out that for once, we took a chance and it worked out in our favour,” said the mayor.

“A great deal of advocacy did take place with the province,” added Wren, citing his own presentation to the province’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs in January, and other lobbying efforts.

“In the end, we’re grateful that the province has seemed to increase the funding, because obviously we’re talking about our most vulnerable citizens who deserve to live their later years in dignity,” said Wren.

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Despite this “good result,” elected officials should take a look at how Sherwood Park Manor, just across County Road 2 from the Lodge, is able to provide long-term care under the same provincial funding model with “no advantage of any municipal funding,” said Wren.

The mayor also reiterated his call for a review of how St. Lawrence Lodge costs are apportioned between the municipalities that support it: Brockville, Prescott, Gananoque and the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.

Meanwhile, the separately accounted water and wastewater budgets are projecting only minimal variances.

The water department is projecting a minimal deficit of $8,398, notes Ferguson’s report, while in the sewer department,a deficit of $11,804 on the operations of the Water Pollution Control Centre is offset by a surplus of $12,000 for the main pumping station.

The water and wastewater departments cover any deficits from their own designated reserves, while any net surplus or deficit on the overall city tax levy flows to or from the fiscal policy reserve.

Rzajac@postmedia.com

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