(file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Cost of COVID

Cost of COVID to P.A. increases but big borrowing not needed

Sep 29, 2020 | 2:59 PM

The estimated cost of the COVID-19 pandemic on the City of Prince Albert has been upgraded, but city officials are still breathing a sigh of relief when it comes to the city’s finances.

At Monday night’s city council executive meeting, director of financial services, Cheryl Tkachuk told councillors her department is now forecasting the city will lose $1,096,951 to the end of 2020 due to the pandemic. That’s up $190,345 from the last estimate in August.

The increase is primarily due to opening more city facilities with reduced attendance, along with $150,000 of bad debt from unpaid water bills accumulated while the city suspended shut offs and late fees from March to October.

Offsetting the increased losses, landfill use did not decrease as significantly as expected.

Additionally, $20 million of borrowing approved by council to get Prince Albert through the summer with the deferral of a portion of property taxes, won’t be needed after all.

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Less than 50 residents applied to defer their property taxes. Provincial funding also helped stabilize the city’s cash flow.

Tkachuk told paNOW the city’s spring predictions may have been a little pessimistic, but staff had to prepare for the worst.

“I was being a negative Nelly I think, but just wanted to make sure we could afford everything and that we paid people and all that stuff,” she said, speaking after the meeting. “I’m very happy we didn’t have to go down that road.”

She also thanked residents for making the effort to pay their property taxes on time.

News the city won’t have to borrow $20 million was welcomed by council on Monday.

“We’re reducing significant debt that was on our books tonight,” Coun. Blake Edwards told the meeting. “I just want to congratulate the financial department, all the departments, for handling this COVID business that could have been devastating.”

As for the projected nearly $1.1 million COVID-related deficit, federal funding announced early this month will cover the shortfall with additional money to carry over into 2021.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom