SYDNEY: The Port of Sydney Development Corp. presented its budget to Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillors for the first time on Wednesday, and the financial forecast calls for a surplus, thanks to increased cruise ship bookings. The budget shows an anticipated surplus of $70,542.46 on revenues of just over $2.2 million, including $937,000 from cruise ship passenger taxes. Total revenues are expected to be up about $700,000 this year, Paul Carrigan, the port’s general manager, told council. Part of the increase over last year’s revenues is due to a transfer of $200,000 from development funds left over from the dredging of Sydney Harbour, which was funded by three levels of government and Nova Scotia Power.
“And due to the 90 cruise ships coming to the port this year, revenues for the passenger tax, berthage, security and the craft market are up significantly,” said Carrigan. “So that is very good news for the port revenues.” The cruise ship season is expected to be busy from the end of April to the end of November, he said, and will likely result in the addition of five or six new employees. No one objected to the budget presentation by the port corporation, which is owned by the municipality, and several councillors asked questions about budget items for clarification. However, Coun. Ray Paruch, a longtime port critic, said the day marked the first time the port authority had ever presented a budget to council for approval. And, he said, port officials have never made a report to council on their operations, despite that being required under the corporation’s articles of association. Paruch also said port CEO Marlene Usher, who was travelling and couldn’t make it to the presentation, recently sent an email to councillors outlining a plan to pay back outstanding lease fees of $1.9 million over the next 10 years. He said he wondered why the first payment of $200,000 — expected this year, according to the email from Usher — doesn’t appear in the budget. Carrigan said he couldn’t answer for Usher, but Mayor Cecil Clarke said the amount will come out of the port authority’s cash reserves.
Paruch said municipal taxpayers own the port and should be repaid the outstanding lease fees. Clarke, Usher and other port officials have previously said if the port corporation paid back the lease fees in one lump sum, it wouldn’t be financially viable and would likely have to borrow money from the municipality, so the argument is moot. Port officials have also said instead of paying the lease fees all along, money was invested into the cruise ship berth and Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion building, increasing the value of the port’s assets and improving its financial viability. On Wednesday, CBRM councillors also approved a list of new board members for the port corporation. The body was created two years ago and has been operating with an interim board of directors made up of council members. The new board members are citizen appointments that take effect April 1. They include three business people — Elizabeth Brunet, Owen Fitzgerald and Jerry Gillis — along with lawyer John Khattar, marketing professional John Strasser, accountant John Anderson and engineer Lucia MacIsaac.
