Pandemic putting pressure on Ottawa's 2021 budget

It's virtual budget day at Ottawa city hall, but the unprecedented pandemic-related financial pressures looming in 2021are all too real.

Thanks to COVID-19, OC Transpois losing $4 million a week. There are no aquafitness classes taking placeat city pools. Ottawa Public Healthhas been in emergency response mode for eight months, and has already projected it will needan extra $24 million next year.

• OPH seeks extra $24M for COVID-19 costs in 2021 budget

Back in the spring, when thecity's chief financial officer was already warning of an"unprecedented" cash crunch, councillors frozemillions of dollars in projects. Even so, upper levels of governmenthad to helpclose the fiscal gapfor 2020.

City officials are counting on their federal and provincial counterparts to do the same in 2021. If they don't, council, as always, is left withtwo choices: cut services or raise taxes.

• Despite pandemic, city aims to hold property tax hike at 3%

City staff, along withpolice, the public health agency andtransit servicewere directed to come up withdraft budgetsthat cap any property tax increaseat 3 per cent overall, as Mayor Jim Watson promised duringthe 2018 election.

That would meanan increase of $115 on the average tax bill for an urban house assessed at $415,000, and an overall budget for city operations in the neighbourhood of just under $4 billion.

OC Transpo bleedingmoney

Some city councillors question whenor iflife in the capital will ever return to normal, and how the budget shouldreflect the currentshift in habits, especially when it comes to commuting.

For cities, the pandemic has hit public transit systems especially hard. In Ottawa, ridership in September was just 30 per cent of normallevels, a decline transit boss John Manconi has saidtranslates to $4 million perweek in lost revenue. Still, OC Transpo staff andservice levels remain relatively unchanged.

River ward Coun. Riley Brockington, who's also a transit commissioner, said he's watched empty buses go by and wondered iffrequency could be reduced on some routes to save money.

"If there are rush-hour routes serving suburbs that basically shuttle federal government workers or university students, and those aren't in use, then I think there are some opportunities there," said Brockington.

He said he'll be studyingOC Transpo's projectedcosts and revenues"with a fine-toothed comb" to make sure everything adds up.

"I don't think we'll even get close to 100 per cent pre-COVID [ridership]in 2021. I think this is a multi-year challenge," he said.

'Change budget' for police

The Ottawa Police Service isfacing pressure from another quarter this year:the demand for sweeping cultural change. Coun. Diane Deans, chair of thepolice services board, promises its2021 budgetwill be a "departure" from budgetspast.

"This is a change budget for the Ottawa Police Service," she said. "We have heard loud and clear from members of the public that they want to see significant change."

• Police chief vows to 'fix our house' amid widespread unrest

The police budget will include $1.5 million to kick-start a new strategy forresponding to mental health calls, money foraworkplace culture reviewand to investigate claims of sexual violence and harassment, andfunding for officer training.

The police will also spend money on neighbourhood resource teams, and will waive fees for background checks for non-profit organizations, Deans said, explaining those initiatives can be paid for withmoney initially set aside to overhaul the service'sinformation technology systems.

The city's 2021 draft budgets will be tabled at 8:30 a.m. Once tabled, they'll be scrutinized by each department and agency. The public will get a chance to weigh inbefore a final vote Dec.9.