Penetanguishene council approved waivers for property taxes and water bills, but learned up to 10 part-time staff are now out of work.
"It does pertain to 90 days of penalties and interests waived on the second interim installment for 2020," said Carrie Robillard, director of finance and treasurer. "It does not waive penalties and interests that are already on the books in terms of arrears."
Robillard said staff brought forward this recommendation for council consideration to be passed immediately as a short-term measure to match what other municipalities have already done.
"With the recent announcement that the province has deferred our payment to the education board," said Robillard. "This is a way that we could pass this concession along to our residents."
In addition to the immediate financial relief, Robillard said staff realize there could be extensions required to this waiver of penalties and interests.
"There could be other financial relief options that council would like to implement on a more long-term basis," Robillard said. "At this point, we decided to recommend this 90-day waiver and continue to investigate other options to bring forward at a future date."
The provision waives property tax penalties and interest for the second interim installment due April 30. The waiver also includes water and wastewater penalties on bills that are due between March 26 and July 31.
"I'm sure it will help people," said Mayor Doug Leroux. "We're not the only municipality that is doing this. Waiving interests and penalties on the tax or water bill is just a thing to help our ratepayers."
Council was also informed the town has laid off up to 10 part-time employees, mostly in the departments of recreation and community services and public works.
"Given the situation we're in, in a lot of cases, the demand wasn't there for the purpose of why we were hiring then," CAO Jeff Lees said.
"As an example, our day-camps weren't functioning, so we can't justify keeping staff on when we're not operating in a manner we would otherwise require them for. At the end of the day, business decisions were made based on the services we're providing and the purpose of why we were hiring them."
He said the decision wasn't made due to lack of finances on the town's part.
"Frankly, that's the nature of the business given the situation we're in," said Lees, who noted re-employment will depend on how long COVID-19 lasts. "We will continually asess on an ongoing basis what our work-plan moving forward looks like in terms of part-time staff as we approach the nicer weather."
Leroux said he doesn't feel good about the situation.
"It's something that has to be done," he said. "And we're hoping that this will resolve in the not too distant future so it doesn't involve having to lay off other people."
As for the full-time staff that the town continues to employ, Lees said they've been provided with rules around working from home. For those whose duties require them to visit town facilities, a screening tool has been deployed.
"We've rolled it out to staff and it's essentially a series of questions that they are to answer," Lees said. "It speaks to all the protocols laid out by the health unit and the province."
From a cleanliness and facility cleaning perspetive, the town has ramped up its practices, he said.
"Through our internal resources and staff, we've done a deep clean of all our facilities," Lees said. "We've asked staff to deploy cleaning practices in their work areas. We've worked with our janitorial staff to elevate their cleaning routines."
