Municipal finances will face a crunch because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the administration in Chatham-Kent is tying to figure out just how much that will be.
Chief Administrative Officer Don Shropshire told the media at a news conference call on Thursday that his staff is crunching the numbers and a report on the financial fallout should be ready for the council meeting on May 11. Shropshire said the report will contain costs and expenses incurred during the crisis, including extra staffing hours.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said the province has already promised the health unit a one time grant to cover expenses related to the amount of extra work and overtime employees are putting in to deal with the pandemic.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is also compiling its hospital expenses. CKHA's Chief Nursing Executive Lisa Northcott said the calculations will be centered around maintaining the assessment centre, the field hospital, and staffing.
"There have been some departments with a lot of excessive overtime," said Shropshire.
He said he's waiting for confirmation from the province on whether it will cover redeployment hours of municipal staff to places like Riverview Gardens long term care facility before the calculations are complete.
"Our focus is still on responding to the event, dealing with health matters, and trying to provide support to the community in addition to maintaining our operation," he added.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is calling on the federal government to provide municipalities with emergency operating funds to keep essential services running and Canadians safe as they deal with the COVID-19 crisis. In a report released on Thursday, FCM President Bill Karsten said communities of all sizes are facing a financial crisis with plummeting revenues and no way to run deficits.
"In a matter of weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned life upside down," Karsten said in his opening message. "We now face a public health and economic challenge unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetime."
He said local leaders need help from upper tiers of government because this crisis exposed the cracks in an "outdated model that is fundamentally misaligned with the modern reality of the role of local governments." The FCM president added unanticipated costs are rising and municipalities have very few fiscal tools available and no legal ability to run operating deficits.
