By Canadian Press

Small surplus grows slightly in latest budget forecast for Nova Scotia

Sep 20, 2016 | 9:45 AM

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia is projecting a slightly increased surplus of $18.9 million for the current fiscal year, crediting participation in the federal infrastructure program with helping it to stay in the black.

The figure, released in a forecast update Tuesday, is $1.8 million dollars more than the $17.1 million surplus estimated in the April budget.

Finance Minister Randy Delorey said the numbers show the Liberal government is sticking to its plan to balance the books while increasing infrastructure spending.

“Our expenses are up, but so are our revenues,” said Delorey. “Both increases are primarily the result of government taking full advantage of new federal cost-shared infrastructure programs.”

He said $102.3 million spent on clean water projects, post-secondary education and research was offset by a $62.4 million increase in federal funding recoveries through the infrastructure program.

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Delorey says the slightly higher surplus figure is the net result of other increased revenues and reduced expenses.

The government said its overall department expenses are up $77.5 million from the budget, with the Natural Resources Department $3.5 million over budget due to the cost of battling wildfires that ravaged parts of the province in August.

While projected tax revenue is meeting the budget estimate, revenue from the Harmonized Sales Tax is expected to decline by $14.2 million because of lower consumer spending and weakened growth in residential housing.

Meanwhile, other factors such as rising costs, the cost of fighting the Alberta wildfires and the amount of federal tax revenue allocated back to the province could ultimately affect the province’s bottom line by the time of the next update in December.

Delorey said the government remained committed to its fiscal plan, but he wouldn’t specifically say whether it would resort to cost-cutting measures to keep the budget in the black in the event of declining revenue.

“The best information we have has us on a positive course,” Delorey said. “We are focused on continuing to execute (the plan) and we are confident that by doing so we will continue to achieve the results we are forecasting.”

NDP Leader Gary Burrill said while the government is touting a slight fiscal improvement, it’s not registering for people such as seniors who have seen nursing home staff and food budget cutbacks and students who continue to deal with high tuition costs.

“This central idea of cut back, prune back, take things away — this is an idea that has been completely abandoned by the federal Liberals and most of the western world and it doesn’t work in Nova Scotia,” he said.

Progressive Conservative finance critic Tim Houston was also critical, pointing to the drop in HST revenue as a worrying sign for the economy.

“It’s telling the real story and the real story is that people don’t have money to spend because they don’t have jobs,” said Houston. “We are not seeing any kind of real economic growth in this province.” 

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press