Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP Daryl Kramp announced that the 19 municipalities all or partly within the riding will receive an additional $1,825,000 in Safe Restart Agreement funding.
The discretionary funding will be used to offset operating costs for critical services and help ensure the municipalities, which include the two county governments of Hastings and Lennox & Addington, do not carry an operating deficit into 2021.
The City of Belleville, which receives $575,000 of this new funding, is one-third in MPP Kramp’s riding and two-thirds in Todd Smith’s Bay of Quinte riding.
“This funding will provide our communities with the support they need to continue delivering critical services that we all rely on every day,” said MPP Kramp. “Today’s announcement will help them develop a 2021 budget which reflects the reality of COVID-19 and give them the confidence they need to proceed with capital projects that will safely drive economic growth.”
The Ontario government is allocating an additional $695M province-wide for municipalities to help ensure they do not carry operating deficits into 2021.This investment builds upon the first phase of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement announced this summer.
Of the $695M announced Wednesday, $299M is being allocated across Ontario’s 444 municipalities to help provide more financial relief, as 2021 operating budgets are finalized. An additional $396M is also being allocated to 48 municipalities that have been hardest hit by COVID-19 and who have demonstrated a need for additional assistance in covering their 2020 operating deficits.