Richmond Hill mayor applauds federal-provincial $4M funding to cope with COVID-19 fallout

Pandemic estimated to cost the city over $8 million in 2020 and 2021.

Yorkregion.com
August 17, 2020
Sheila Wang

As Richmond Hill continues to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, Mayor Dave Barrow expressed his appreciation for emergency funding announced by the Ontario government on Aug. 12.

The city will receive $4 million in Phase 1 municipal operating funding to address the financial pressures brought about by the pandemic, according to the mayor’s statement.

The funding is part of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement which includes targeted funding for the province's 444 municipalities for the purpose of the safe restart of Canada’s economy over the next six to eight months.

“Over the past five months we closed facilities, cancelled programs and events and closed park amenities to help keep our residents safe. These closures and our gradual reopening have had a significant impact on the city’s finances,” Barrow wrote in the statement.

The city is faced with an estimated $6.41 million financial impact of COVID-19 in 2020, and a projected $1.7 million impact in 2011, according to the June 23 Budget Committee of the Whole meeting.

“Richmond Hill council has been working with staff to offset this number through mitigating actions such as a hiring freeze and cancelling events,” spokesperson Libbi Hood wrote in an email.

The city has cancelled temporarily laid off more than 1,000 part-time and contract staff during COVID-19.

“The funding announced today will greatly contribute to our efforts to mitigate the increased costs and ensure the pandemic doesn’t result in significant tax increases for residents and businesses in the future,” Barrow said.

He noted the province has indicated additional funding would be available later this year.

The $4 million funding allocated for Richmond Hill is part of the over $23 million total funding for York Region’s nine municipalities.
Markham and Vaughan, the two most populous municipalities, will receive more than half of the total amount.

While it’s expected that COVID-19 is costly to municipal, provincial and federal government budgets, the financial impact was estimated at $63 million for York Region as of June 30, according to a July 17 memorandum from commissioner of finance and regional treasurer Laura Mirabell.

The COVID-19 financial impact figure is expected to increase from its current estimate to $173 million, Mirabella said in the memorandum sent to Regional Chair Wayne Emmerson.

"All nine cities and towns in York Region are facing challenges associated with COVID-19, with these challenges likely to continue into 2021," Mirabella said.

In her report, she said COVID-19’s financial impact for York Region is expected to be $98 million in 2021.

"The approach assumes York Region would be in full recovery mode and impacts would be reduced," Mirabella said, when asked why the projected impact is lower for 2021.