City of Burlington will receive $6M in Federal and Provincial Emergency Funding this Fall

News 100 yellowBy Staff

August 13th, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON
City Council does have to come up with a budget before the end of the year.

The Province of Ontario announced as part of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement that the City of Burlington will receive $4,470,700 to support municipal operating pressures for Phase 1 and Burlington Transit will receive $1,571,213 to support municipal transit systems for Phase 1.

Joan Ford, the city's Director of Finance knows where every dollar comes from and where every dollar gets spent.

Joan Ford, the city’s Director of Finance doesn’t have to worry as much about where the money to pay the bills is going to come from.

Senior City staff will be presenting the monthly COVID-19 verbal update to the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee Meeting on Thursday.

At the last monthly update to Burlington City Council on July 9, the City was estimating revenue losses of $18 million. The City was able to mitigate $9.9 million for a projected year end shortfall of $8.1 million before needing to draw from reserve funds.

If memory serves us correctly the shortfall was in the $4 million range

Municipalities will be provided with up to $1.6 billion as part of the first round of emergency funding under the Safe Restart Agreement.

This funding will help municipalities like Burlington protect the health and well-being of residents, while continuing to deliver critical public services to our community and assist with economic recovery.

Through the Safe Restart Agreement with the federal government, $695 million will help municipalities address operating pressures related to the COVID-19 pandemic through the first round of emergency funding, and over $660 million will support transit systems. The province is also providing an additional $212 million through the Social Services Relief Fund to help vulnerable people find shelter.

One of the new buses added o the Burlington Transit fleet. There were busses that had more than 15 years on their tires - those old ones certainly rattled down Guelph Line when I was on one of them.

There will be money for the transit service – will there be passengers willing to ride the buses – especially if they are crowded.

In addition to the support for municipalities, the government is providing over $660 million in the first phase of transit funding to the 110 municipalities with transit systems. The funding can be used to provide immediate relief from transit pressures, such as lower ridership, as well as for new costs due to COVID-19, such as enhanced cleaning and masks for staff.

In the second phase, additional allocations will be provided based on expenses incurred to ensure the funding meets the needs of municipalities. As part of the Safe Restart Agreement with the federal government, up to $2 billion is being provided to support public transit in Ontario.

Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said: “This is exactly the support we need from our upper levels of government to continue to provide the services our residents need, in the midst of COVID-19. Today’s funding announcement for Burlington will allow us to continue to serve our community without service cuts, unacceptable tax increases or depleting reserves.

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1 comment to City of Burlington will receive $6M in Federal and Provincial Emergency Funding this Fall

  • Phillip Wooster

    I love MMW’s comment, “will allow us to continue to serve our community without…unacceptable tax increases”. Head up to MMW–given the serious impact of this covid Crisis on taxpayers and the private sector, ANY TAX INCREASE IS UNACCEPTABLE.