August 12, 2020
Statement: Provincial Government Announces $46 Million for Mississauga through Phase 1 of Safe Restart Agreement
“Today is a good day for the City of Mississauga as the province announced we are receiving $46 million through Phase 1 of the Safe Restart Agreement.
It’s important to give credit where it is due and I want to thank Premier Ford for being a champion for cities and for coming to the table time and time again to advocate for our needs. I also want to thank Prime Minister Trudeau and the federal government for their unprecedented financial commitment.
This funding will help Mississauga address the approximately $60 million deficit we face in 2020 and recognizes that a strong economic recovery requires healthy cities.
As we understand, of the $46 million, nearly $15 million will help support Mississauga with operating pressures and loss in revenue due to the closure of several City programs and services over the course of this pandemic. This support will ease the pressure to cut frontline services or significantly raise property taxes.
An additional $31 million will be earmarked to fund our transit system. During the pandemic, many cities saw a considerable decline in ridership and several, including Mississauga, made transit free. Transit alone is forecast to have a $44 million dollar loss in 2020. While we are once again collecting fares, ridership remains low. This funding will help in part, fund our transit system to ensure that we can get people to and from work and that our economy thrives in the months and years to come.
In addition to Mississauga’s allocation, the Region of Peel will receive nearly $28 million to help our vulnerable residents who have been hardest hit by this pandemic.
This funding will help us kick start our economy and ensure we can continue to deliver the essential services our residents and businesses rely on. Despite this support, we are still forecasting a deficit this year and will continue to work to identify savings and face tough decisions as we plan our 2021 Budget. COVID-19 will bring additional financial pressures to future years and we look forward to working with the province to determine how Phase 2 funding can best support large, urban cities like Mississauga.
Once again, I want to thank the provincial and federal government for listening to the concerns of municipalities and responding generously with this much-needed relief.”
– Bonnie Crombie, Mayor of Mississauga
Media Contact:
Nicole McInerney
nicole.mcinerney@mississauga.ca