Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Supplementary Appropriation No. 3 requests authority for additional appropriations of $9,026,187, made up of $4,111,154 for operations and maintenance expenditures and $4,915,033 for capital expenditures. Approximately $5 million of the new supplementary funding requirements will be offset by new revenues, recoveries or other means. As a result, the net funding requirement is $4 million. These requirements are within the estimated supplementary reserve established in the budget and will not change this year's forecasted deficit of $34 million.
The operations and maintenance supplementary appropriation requirements include the following major items:
- $1.3 million for the Department of Health and Social Services to meet the salary obligations arising from finalization of the new Hay Plan job evaluation ratings for nurses and social workers.
- $1.1 million for the Department of Finance to address the increase in anticipated interest costs of short term borrowing to meet government financial commitments.
The capital supplementary appropriation requirements include the following major item:
- $3.6 million for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to address capital requirements associated with:
- • the three-month extension of the Minimum Downpayment Assistance Pilot Project;
- • independent housing and repair programs in Fort Liard;
- • construction of two independent housing units in Tulita; and
- • the private home owner pilings repair initiative in Inuvik.
This requirement is fully offset by a recovery from the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation's 1998-1999 operations and maintenance surplus.
Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to review the details of the supplementary appropriation document. Thank you.