Aurora 'coping very well financially' in midst of COVID-19, CAO says

Town doesn't expect to hike taxes or cut services due to pandemic

Yorkregion.com
August 31, 2020
Lisa queen

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t expected to hit Aurora taxpayers in the pocketbook through a hike in the town’s portion of the property tax bill next year, CAO Doug Nadorozny says.

“We do not anticipate an increase higher than the one approved last year when the three-year budget was passed by council. That is currently set at 3.4% for 2021,” he said in an email.

“There is no additional tax levy anticipated to cover COVID-related costs.”

Meanwhile, residents shouldn’t see a reduction in programs and services, Nadorozny said.

“Other than the cuts of services that have taken place to conform with the regulations that the province has imposed, we do not anticipate additional cuts in services,” he said.

“We are slowly bringing many services back, albeit on a limited basis.”

While the town laid off some employees when the pandemic first hit, staffing levels are returning to normal, Nadorozny said.

“Initially we did lay off most of our part-time employees, primarily in facilities and recreation,” he said.

“As services come back online, we are gradually recalling these employees. We do not anticipate additional layoffs unless regulations in the future inhibit our ability to continue to offer the services we are currently offering.”

While the pandemic ballooned the federal government’s deficit to $343 billion, the provincial government’s deficit to $38.5 billion, left the Region of York with an impact of $173 million and saw Statistics Canada report that the Canadian economy posted its worst decline on record in the second quarter of 2020, Aurora remains in good fiscal shape, Nadorozny said.

“Overall, the town is coping very well financially,” he said.

“Our finance team has worked closely with our executive leadership team as we constantly work to adjust our operations to minimize expense and optimize service delivery during this unprecedented time.”

COVID-19 did take a toll on the town’s revenues, including development, recreation programs and tax penalties, finance director Rachel Wainwright-van Kessel said.

“The town took action to try and mitigate these losses through savings from facilities by draining the SARC (Stronach Aurora Recreation Centre) pool and removing ice from rinks and other savings from contract costs and operating materials,” she said.

The town took a number of steps to ease the financial burden on taxpayers such as deferring taxes and waiving penalties.

To apply for a waiver on penalties, residents can visit aurora.ca/Tax/Property-Tax-Deferral-Program-Application-Form.

“COVID-19 has not yet had a direct impact on the town’s reserves,” Wainwright-van Kessel added.

“With the receipt of the Safe Restart Funding of $1,298,500 from the provincial and federal government, the town expects this will manage any COVID-driven deficit this year so the town does not need to pull money from its reserves.”

York Region waived the 9-per cent increase on the wholesale water and wastewater cost to the town. Aurora passed these savings along to residents by revising the originally planned charge for water and wastewater, Wainwright-van Kessel said.

If water customers now want to receive their water bill through email, they can sign up at aurora.ca/en/town-services/water-and-sewer-billing.aspx.