Since the last Timmins council meeting, staff has been looking at ways to offset some of the additional costs the city is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April, a report projected the pandemic will mean a $2.4 million shortfall in revenue, as well as an additional $649,000 in expenses.
For this week's meeting, there is an update on financial impact of the pandemic from CAO Dave Landers on the agenda.
Since the April meeting, staff has been looking looking at ways to save money in the operating expenses and defer some capital to future years.
"A report will be prepared for council in June with the plan to address the financial pressures for the 2020 year and will identify some longer term expected impacts that will inform future budgeting," reads the report.
In making decisions, they are using a system to rate capital and maintenance purchases. It takes into account factors such as impact to cash flow, local spend, criticality, decision to reserve funds, and funding availability from upper levels of government.
There is also positive news in the report.
During the period when there was a ban on construction, the report notes that the building and planning department still accepted planning and building permit applications electronically.
"With the construction ban now lifted, we can report that as of the end of March we have processed permits with an additional $1.2 million of construction value being realized in comparison to last year," according to the report.
The city is also receiving up to $58,000 in funding for essential summer student workers.
For property taxes, the report shows that at the end of April, 42.63 per cent of the budgeted tax levy had been collected, compared to 42.53 per cent in 2019, which is $82,214 more than the previous year.
For water billing, by the end of April 37.68 per cent of the budgeted revenues had been collected, compared to 38.25 per cent in 2019. That is a $124,180 decrease from 2019.
"In short there is no significant tax collection shortfall at this time," reads the report.
Council is meeting virtually May 26 at 6 p.m. You can tune into the meeting here.
The full pandemic update is available here.
