Funding Announcement – Federal/Provincial Safe Restart Agreement – $236,600 to Support Covid-19 Operating Costs and Pressures

MEDIA RELEASE

12 August 2020
Hastings Highlands

Federal-Provincial Safe Restart Agreement Announcemnet

Maynooth, ON – We are excited to announce that under the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement, Hastings Highlands will be receiving $236,600.

On July 27, 2020, as part of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement, the Ontario government announced that it had secured up to $4 billion in emergency assistance to provide Ontario’s 444 municipalities with the support they need to respond to COVID-19.

This investment provides support to municipalities and public transit operators to help them address financial pressures related to COVID-19, maintain critical services and protect vulnerable people as the province safely and gradually opens. It includes:
• Up to $2 billion to support municipal operating pressures, and
• Up to $2 billion to support municipal transit systems.

Under the municipal operating stream, $1.39 billion will be available to Ontario’s municipalities to address operating pressures and local needs. This funding will be allocated in two phases: 50% allocated in Phase 1 for all municipalities, and 50% allocated in Phase 2 for municipalities that require additional funding.

The Safe Restart Agreement also includes a second phase of Social Services Relief Funding (SSRF) totalling $362 million. This is in addition to significant investments made earlier to the SSRF and in support of public health. Details will be outlined in a letter to Service Managers in the coming days.

Municipal Operating Funding Phase 1: Immediate Funding for Municipal Pressures

Phase 1 of this funding will be allocated on a per household basis and I am pleased to share that the Municipality of Hastings Highlands will receive a payment of $236,600 to support your COVID-19 operating costs and pressures.

Phase 2: Funding for Additional Municipal Pressures

Municipalities who are eligible and approved to receive funding under Phase 2 will be informed before the end of the calendar year and can expect to receive a payment in early 2021.

– Vic A. Bodnar, Mayor of Hastings Highlands

###