KITCHENER -- The City of Kitchener is pressing the pause button on a number of capital projects as it copes with the financial pinch from the COVID-19 pandemic.
City Council voted Monday to cancel or postpone 89 of the city's 248 capital projects.
City facilities were forced to shut their doors due the pandemic and as a result, municipal cash flow has started to dry up.
"Much of the revenues that come in through user fees, whether it's an arena, swimming pools, parking revenues, even fine revenues and so on are all significantly lower as a result of the past three months," Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said.
"At this point in time, we are projecting a significant deficit at the end of the year of $5.6 million," said Jonathan Lautenbach, the city's chief financial officer.
City officials said the deficit would force them to dip into the reserve funds, significantly decreasing the financial safety net. In order to stay out of the red, council voted to postpone the projects. The city has deferred $21 million in projects to 2021, while another $1.3 million are cancelled.
"A vast majority of the money will be actually left in those budgets, but they'll help us with cash flow over the coming year," Vrbanovic said. "Some of those projects were determined based on either they can't proceed this year because of COVID, we may not have the staff resources to support the construction."
"We are doing everything we can in the current year to address the current year impacts," Lautenbach said.
The city is hoping for financial aid from the provincial and federal governments.
"Municipalities are at a critical point," Vrbanovic said.
Here's a list of the projects affected by the vote:
