Prince George is the recipient of some welcome news when it comes to recovering from the financial impact the pandemic has had on the city.
The city has received confirmation that it will be receiving $6,110,000 in funding as part of the COVID-19 Safe Restart for Local Governments grant from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
“It was needed. It is going to ease our financial crisis for 2020,” said Councilor Garth Frizzell.
The city has been losing close to $1,000,000 a month because of the pandemic and the costs have been adding up, he explained.
The announcement is also timely, as Prince George is also facing a 2021 budget shortfall of about $6.8 million.
“It’s operational money. We can spend it where we need it the most. That’s just so vital because the financial crisis we were facing was huge. We need to protect services and we need to keep people safe right now. Especially as we go into the second wave,” said Frizzell.
Eligible costs for the grant funding include addressing revenue shortfall, facility reopening and operating costs, emergency planning and response, bylaw enforcement and protective services, computer and other electronic technology, and services for vulnerable persons.
“We don’t have a lot of levers to pull in municipal government, we have to either get support from other orders of government, cut back services, or we have to raise taxes,” said Frizzell.
“We did some significant cuts throughout the summer, we deferred millions of dollars in capital works that we were going to be going on in the summer, some staff were laid off, and staff that weren’t hired for the summer. Coming into just last week there were additional layoffs and consolidations of departments.”
Back in July, the Federal Government announced an agreement with provinces and territories on a ‘safe economic restart plan’ that would also include help for municipalities.
In September, the Province of BC announced nearly $2 billion in joint federal/provincial spending to support local governments facing increased operating costs and revenue impacts due to COVID-19.
As part of the grant funding program, the City will be required to report annually on the spending of grant funds until there are no funds remaining.
Council will enter budget deliberations in January.
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