Mayors plead for emergency funding to avoid service cuts
Municipalities dealing with revenue loss, increased costs due to pandemic
Municipal leaders have renewed their call for financial help from the province and federal government for the COVID-19 crisis, saying time is running out before they have to make drastic cuts to services.
Associations representing Ontario mayors and chairs put out a joint call this week for funding they say is needed to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs and lost revenues.
Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said his city is crippled by a lack of revenues and overwhelmed by pandemic expenses.
“We’re not able to collect revenues. We’re not allowed to have a deficit. We’re in a real, not just unenviable, but impossible situation that we can’t get ourselves out of because it’s not through our own doing or our own making,” he said Tuesday. “It’s much bigger. It’s a global crisis and we need our upper levels of government to plug the hole and make us whole.”
Niagara Falls is facing a $4-million gap to date due to COVID-19.
Diodati said if upper levels don’t help out, the only other option is double-digit property tax increases.
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik said his city will have to look at service cuts as it inches closer to bud
get time this fall.
“What does that mean? Is it closing libraries? Is it reducing transit? Is it closing community centres?” Sendzik asked.
“The reality is, depending on the depth of the deficit that we’re facing, we could be left with these long-term decisions that will have a detrimental impact on the expectations of health and vibrancy of our community.”
St. Catharines is facing an estimated $10.5-million year-end loss from COVID-19. That’s been reduced to approximately $6.6 million with mitigation efforts by staff that included temporary layoffs.
“Without any certainty, we now have to prepare for cutting significant services across the board. That’s why we’re saying the time is now for the federal and provincial governments to step up and provide some kind of relief.”
Welland seems to be in a slightly better position.
Mayor Frank Campion said revenues are down and costs are up, but with layoffs and cutbacks, including reducing transit services substantially, the city lowered an approximate $4-million impact to $350,000 by the end of the year.
That’s an amount he said the city should be able to absorb.
“There’s a lot of pain associated with getting there,” Campion said. “We, unfortunately, did have to lay off a lot of people.”
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has been asking for at least $10 billion in emergency relief for municipalities across the country. That would include $4 billion for Ontario municipalities to offset lost transit revenues and added costs.
The push by the federation is supported by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario and Mayors and Regional Chairs of Ontario, which put out the joint call for action this week.
Niagara Centre MPP Jeff
Burch, the official opposition critic for municipal affairs, sent a letter to Premier Doug Ford last week urging his government to work with the federal government and provide emergency operating relief to municipalities.
“It seems the federal and provincial government are batting the ball back and forth while municipalities are getting into a dire situation in terms of not knowing what their budgets are going to look like, and having to choose between tax hikes and pretty severe service cuts if they don’t get some emergency funds,” Burch said Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark said the province has been working with municipal partners to track COVID-19 related expenses so it can help municipalities get back on their feet to continue delivering services.