City of Burlington Recipient of More Financial Relief from Province During COVID-19

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*Please see below a media release issued by the City of Burlington.Burlington, Ont. — Dec. 17, 2020 — Yesterday, the Ontario government announced they are allocating an additional $695 million to provide financial relief for municipalities and help ensure they do not carry operating deficits into 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.The City of Burlington is one of 48 (out of 444 municipalities) to receive the “full” phase 2 funding allocation.The City of Burlington is receiving additional 2020 operating funding of $5.4 million, plus $1.9 million to help with 2021 COVID-related operating pressures. This funding is in addition to $2.2 million in transit-related money provided to help with local transit pressures, which was also secured through the City’s phase 2 application through the Safe Restart program.This investment builds upon the first phase of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Funding Agreement announced this summer and will help municipalities deliver critical services during COVID-19.

"We know the City will continue to feel significant financial impacts of COVID-19 into 2021. We want to thank the provincial government for providing this additional funding support as we develop our 2021 budget that helps us to deliver the high-quality local services our residents and business rely on every day.  Although we still have a challenging 2021 operating budget forthcoming in January, this funding is a huge relief for the city as we continue to deal with the financial impacts of this pandemic." -- Tim Commisso, City Manager, City of Burlington

Quick Facts:

  • The federal-provincial Safe Restart Funding Agreement is a historic partnership that secured up to $4 billion in emergency funding for Ontario’s municipalities to help them on the road to a safe recovery during the pandemic.

MAYOR MEED WARD'S TAKE:This is great news for our City. The Province listened to us. This additional funding will help us as we enter a difficult 2021 budget to maintain and enhance the services our residents expect, while keeping it affordable. Thank you to the Province and Minister Steve Clark for this funding, and to our local MPPs – Jane McKenna, Effie Triantafilopoulos and Parm Gill – for being great advocates for our City. As well, thank you to the City’s finance, transit, government relations and leadership teams for the hours they spent working and filling out applications to justify why we needed this funding. This will go a long way as we head into 2021.RELATED LINKS:

—PLEASE NOTE: To stay updated on what the City of Burlington is doing regarding COVID-19, please visit the dedicated pages burlington.ca/coronavirus (and subscribe) and bit.ly/mayormeedwardCOVID19updates, and our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page — bit.ly/COVID19BurlingtonFAQ that are updated as new information becomes available.A consolidated page for information and updates on the work of the provincial Ministers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force is available at bit.ly/COVIDVaccineUpdates.A Burlington COVID-19 Task Force has been created to help support our community through this unprecedented emergency — updates will be provided at burlington.ca/COVID19taskforce.To report an incident of non-compliance with provincial emergency orders, please contact the Halton Regional Police Service COVID-19 Hotline: 905-825-4722.We’ve also created a dedicated page to feature the local organizations and businesses that have inspired us during the COVID-19 pandemic by taking action to support our community in new and creative ways — head to bit.ly/covidwallofinspiration.HELPFUL RESOURCES & RELATED LINKS:

--*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor's Media and Digital Communications Specialist

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City of Burlington will receive $7.3M in Ontario's Safe Restart Municipal Operating Funding Phase 2: Additional Municipal Pressures program