NWT budget 2015 pushes back from approaching ‘fiscal cliff’ – Northern Journal

February 9, 2015

The NWT’s finance minister is walking a thin line in new shoes this fiscal year – the change in footwear meant to celebrate an additional $100 million in capital investment to cap the fourth and final year of the 17th Assembly.

Minister Michael Miltenberger announced his latest budget dedicated to fiscal restraint last Thursday, taking care to outline the opportunities faced by the next assembly while remaining realistic about the daunting task ahead of keeping expenditures in check with essentially no growth in revenues over the next four years.

At $1.83 billion, the budget forecasts a fifth consecutive operating surplus of $147 million for the year, but as revenue growth slows to a standstill and costs continue to mount, Miltenberger said it will take smart, difficult choices to ensure the territory doesn’t hit the wall.
“We are approaching the edge of a fiscal cliff and our challenge is to ensure that we do not go over,” he said during the last of his budget address Thursday afternoon. “We should not be operating this close to the edge.”

Read More: http://norj.ca/2015/02/nwt-budget-2015-pushes-back-from-approaching-fiscal-cliff/