Financial Update
This year marks a milestone for students and the USSU as we reached the completion of the Place Riel Renovation and expansion project. This project took many years of planning and 29 months of construction to complete. The $28 million dollar project was financed by students through existing savings from the student infrastructure fee and an $18.3 million loan which going forward will be covered by the existing student infrastructure fee. While the construction portion of the project is completed, the numbers have still yet to completely settle as there are still a few outstanding bills from contractors. As it stands now the project is over budget, which is not news as it has been for quite some time.
Although it has been over budget it has always remained within it’s funding. That is to say, the project has gone over what was budgeted for it, but there was more money available for this project than had been budgeted to cover unforeseen costs. Going forward this mean the USSU should be financially cautious.
An upside for our finances in that with the completion of the Place Riel project our Commercial Retail Units are now open once again. These bring in significant revenues for the Student Union and thus far have exceeded the projections that were made for them in last year’s budget. Although they are exceeding expectations, this year is still projected to run a deficit. It is my hope that on the back of these rent revenues, combined with fiscal restraint, that we are able to strengthen the USSU’s financial position in the coming years.
Reid
