Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
People think that you need to have an operating surplus for debt to go down, but what's really important is the ratio between the size of the debt and the tax base. If a city's tax base grows by 3% and the debt grows by 1%, it is better off and its debt load is lower.
Analogies to personal finance don't always work, but this is just like the impact of your income on your ability to pay off your household debt. You are in good financial shape if you have a reliable income of $100k and a mortgage of $400k, but you'd lose your house if you only had $15k a year of income.
Where it falls apart a bit, I think, is that governments that invest well can easily drive economic growth beyond the dollars they spend. Actually I doubt it's even possible to have much growth without government investment in infrastructure. The simple model of government as, say, a senior spending a pension cheque on rent and food is quite inaccurate.
It is possible that HRM's true debt level went down in 2014/2015, since the population and economy both grew.
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Good points.
The deficit is an operating deficit, nothing to do with the debt.
Deed Transfer Tax was budgeted at $36 million and actual was $31.3 million.
For line item details go to :
http://www.halifax.ca/boardscom/SCfi...617afsc912.pdf
The five Kelly years saw $37 million in surpluses and the 2 Savage years have deficits of $12 million.
Neither Kelly nor Savage can be held responsible for surpluses and deficits; the results are beyond their control. Economic activity is well beyond political control although some people prefer to believe otherwise.
In other news, Banner Developments will be purchasing Dartmouth City Hall subject to Council approval . Banner is a Dartmouth based company owned by Jeffrey Kavanaugh. To be discussed at Audit & Finance Cttee.
http://www.halifax.ca/boardscom/SCfi...617afsc915.PDF