St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen believes the most significant challenge the city faced in 2023 was inflation.

Breen says interest rates coupled with the overall economic pressure on the public to create a challenging situation.

He says the way to curb that problem into 2024 is for the city to closely examine all of their capital works projects as they do them and make sure they are fitting within their budget.

In other cases, Breen says they have no choice but to eat the cost.

He uses the cost of road salt as an example. They have some reserves, but ultimately they have to use as much as they need in order to keep the roads and sidewalks safe.