Yukon finance minister tables public accounts for last fiscal year

WHITEHORSE – The Yukon government says it posted a $105-million surplus in the 2022-23 fiscal year, $65 million more than it predicted.

Yukon Finance Minister Sandy Silver tabled the territory’s public accounts in the legislative assembly Wednesday, reporting a multimillion-dollar surplus far above budget forecasts for the time period.

The government says it had $1.86 billion in revenues and $1.76 billion in expenses, recovering nearly $4 million in expenses from prior years.

The territory holds $259 million in debt as of March 31 this year, $51 million less than forecast in its past estimate.

The Yukon government says it was late tabling the public accounts due to new procedures that increased the workload to prepare, and the last time it missed a legislated deadline was the 2008-09 fiscal year.

The territory says revenues were higher than expected due to more than $50 million in grants from the federal government, and it also collected over $25 million more in taxes than expected.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2023.