Province Issues Public Accounts Statements

Nova Scotia is making real and substantial progress in getting back to balance, the province's annual financial statements, released today, July 29, show.

The public accounts report a deficit of $241.9 million for the last fiscal year, down from $488.4 million in April. This is a result of government's focused efforts to restrain spending and grow the economy.

"We are taking on the hard work to get back to balance," said Finance Minister Graham Steele. "Today's data shows three areas of significant improvement over the past fiscal year. We have benefitted from reduced expenses and increased revenues, and are the first government in a decade to take control of unbudgeted spending."

Expenses were restrained significantly in 2009-10. Funds used to cover unbudgeted expenses and spending, referred to as additional appropriations, are down significantly. In 2008-09 the previous government spent $408 million in additional appropriations. This year government sliced that down to just $24 million. The 10-year average for additional appropriations is $277 million.

Stimulus spending and other initiatives played a significant role in increased revenues, totaling more than $155 million. That includes an increase of $76 million in personal and corporate income tax revenue.

And expenses were reduced by $128 million, including reduced borrowing costs, since the last public forecast.

It is important to note that money saved through reduced expenses and additional appropriations was not spent in other areas

"Government acted to ensure that savings achieved through the year were used to reduce the deficit," Mr. Steele said. "A penny saved should be a penny saved — not a penny spent somewhere else.

"We still have a difficult financial situation to address. But we have developed a four-year plan that will guide us through some difficult spending choices and ensure we have the money we need to protect important services like health care and education."

The March 31 financial statements are in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Nova Scotia's auditor general has provided an unqualified auditor's report that is included in Public Accounts Volume 1.

The Public Accounts documents are available online at www.gov.ns.ca/finance/en/home/publications/publicaccounts .