in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 25 ,2 02 1 | 4 Ask us about Alcohol TakeOut/ Delivery We also offer custom meals. Please call to inquire @ZUCCHINISCUCINA Gift Cards available Call it casual, call it fast, at Zucchinis we have it all. Offering Italian classics with a twist on all your favourites. www.zucchiniscucina.ca or CALL 905-808-8374 ORDERONLINENOW In addition to our extensivemenu we offer Daily Specials. Weare open for Dine-in, Takeout &Delivery Call to reserve your table today. Now taking bookings for Easter! Dine-in or Take-out See ourmenu online or call for details Thank you for your continuous support and for supporting local.... it means somuch to us! Wednesday, March 31st, 2021 • 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm delmanor.com Stand Up For Mental Health Comedy Show: The Lighter Side of Mental Health! What's so funny about mental health? Find out for yourself as stand-up comic David Granirer of Stand Up for Mental Health and his fellow comics explore the lighter side of mental health, something that we really need during this time of Covid! This live virtual lecture is FREE. Spaces are limited! To RSVP, please contact Pat or Monique at (905) 469-3232 by Friday, March 26th David Granirer RPC, MPCC, M.S.M standupformentalhealth.com In an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, all town facil- ities and Oakville Public Library branches closed to the public on March 16, 2020. The majority of town pro- grams would stay closed until May 19, 2020, when the province began Stage 1 of its safe reopening plan. Even then, town staff said, many of the town's revenue gener- ating programs did not resume until Stage 2 or 3 of this plan. Catharine Hewitson, the town's director of asset management, said that as a result of these closures and other restrictions, the town's recreation and culture department lost $12.5 million in revenue, while transit lost $5.5 million. Another $1.9 million in parking fee revenue was lost, as was $1.9 million, which disappeared as a result of the town's decision to waive penalty and interest fees on taxes for residents in 2020. Hewitson said the parks de- partment lost $700,000 in revenue, while planning services and de- velopment engineering each lost $400,000. Another $1.3 million was need- ed for additional bylaw enforce- ment, masks and gloves for em- ployees and customers and other COVID-19-related costs. Hewitson said the town suc- ceeded in reducing this $24.7-mil- lion impact to $11.4 million by tak- ing a number of actions. This included issuing tempo- rary layoffs to part-time staff, sea- sonal staff, casual staff and tem- porary recreation staff on April 1, 2020. Staff were also directed to re- duce spending on all non-essen- tial and less critical activities, which resulted in the deferral of minor contracted maintenance, reductions to program-related ex- penditures and the close monitor- ing of building systems for utility savings. Additional help in rebounding from these COVID-19 impacts came on Aug. 12, 2020, when the town was notified it would receive $6.9 million in emergency assis- tance funds under the federal-pro- vincial Safe Restart Agreement. The town got more good news on Dec. 16, 2020, when it was noti- fied it would receive additional Safe Restart Agreement funding of up to $4.9 million for transit-re- lated COVID-19 impacts to cover the period of October 2020 to March 2021. On Dec. 16, 2020, the town was told it would receive another $1.9 million in Safe Restart Agreement funding toward COVID-19 im- pacts on general operations that continue into 2021. "Overall, the town is eligible to receive up to $13.7 million in Safe Restart funding, of which $11.8 million is potentially available to be used to cover COVID-19 im- pacts in 2020 and $1.9 million is specifically for continued impacts in 2021," said Hewitson. When reached for comment Nancy Robertson, president of the Chartwell Maple Grove Resi- dents' Association, said no com- munity can be immune to the cost of the pandemic -- economically or otherwise. "Communication from the Town and the mayor has been reg- ular and thorough. This has been very helpful," she said. "There will inevitably be a cost to this year- long disruption, but we are very happy that the Town has built up reserves over the years. These, along with the help that munici- palities are eligible for from both the provincial and federal govern- ments, should hopefully protect local taxpayers from some or all of the burden of covering these un- expected costs." In a Nov. 17 meeting, town staff projected the town would lose an- other $17 million to COVID-19 in 2021; however, this was well before the timeline for a vaccine rollout had been announced, and so it is unclear if this figure is still valid. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With the Town of Oakville's reve- nue shortfall in the tens of mil- lions of dollars last year due to COVID, we wanted to find out what the Town's overall finan- cial status is when funding from other levels of government and spending cuts were factored in. NEWS Continued from page 3 MAJOR SPENDING CUTS MADE LAST YEAR Despite revenue losses from COVID, the Town of Oakville's financial status remains stable. Graham Paine/Metroland