Item - 2021.BU35.5

The Budget Committee recommends that:

1. City Council approve in-year budget adjustments to the 2021-2030 Approved Capital Budget and Plan as detailed in Appendix 4 to the report (November 19, 2021) from the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.

This is to advise that prior to Budget Committee on November 19, 2021, a Capital Variance Report for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, with additional analysis and recommendations will be submitted for consideration. Due to accelerating the agenda to ensure 2022 rate budget materials are publicly shared and to the additional complexity associated with analyzing financial implications of COVID-19, additional time is required to provide detailed review and analysis for the variance reports, in advance of the Budget Committee meeting.

The Capital Variance Report will contain capital spending results for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 as well as projected expenditures to December 31, 2021. The report will also request City Council's approval for in-year budget adjustments to the 2021 Approved 2021-2030 Capital Budget and Plan.

The purpose of this report is to provide City Council with the City of Toronto capital spending for the nine month period ended September 30, 2021, as well as projected expenditures to December 31, 2021. Furthermore, this report seeks Council's approval for in-year budget adjustments to the 2021 Approved Capital Budget and Plan.

As illustrated in Table 1 below, City's 2021 capital expenditure was $1.917 billion or 36.4 percent of the 2021 capital budget of $5.267 billion for the period ended September 30, 2021 and is projecting to expend $4.076 billion or 77.4 percent by December 31, 2021.

Table 1 - Capital Variance Summary

*Note: Includes 2020 carry forward funding

The Capital spending pattern for the first nine months typically ranges between 32 percent and 48 percent of the total Council Approved Capital Budget, with the 2021 experience of 36.4 percent. The total City projected spend of 77.4 percent by year-end is comprised of a Tax Supported Programs spending rate of 73.5 percent and a Rate Supported Programs spending rate of 87.4 percent.

Moving forward, the City will continue to plan annual capital projects in line with both affordability and achievability, based on the historical actual capacity. The strategy is expected to build on improvements experienced to date and also improve capital spend rate in future years; fully utilizing approved funding and enabling any excess funding capacity to support additional capital priorities.