RCCAO urges feds to help municipalities weather budget shortfalls caused by pandemic

VAUGHAN, ONT. — The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) has provided a federal pre-budget submission reiterating a similar to call to one it made to the province, urging the federal government to once again help provide municipalities with financial assistance that will help them weather budget shortfalls caused by COVID-19.

The submission was made recently to Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland. The alliance notes it is crucial that adequate funding flows early this year, or that assurances of financial assistance are made, as municipalities will face the prospect of having to delay or cancel state-of-good-repair (SOGR) projects to balance their 2021 budgets, indicates a release.

“We commend the federal government for the co-operative approach it has taken with provinces and municipalities since the beginning of the pandemic and the leadership it took on providing much-needed funding to municipalities in 2020. That spirit of collaboration must continue in 2021,” said RCCAO interim executive director Nadia Todorova in a statement. “It is critical that a Safe Restart Agreement 2.0 be implemented, or municipalities will be forced to use money from their capital budgets to pay for higher operating expenses caused by the pandemic.”