During this meeting, I had brought up a couple of questions regarding by law enforcement. Recently the Town of Oakville and City of Burlington passed additional bylaws to help deter residents from breaking the social and physical distancing rules, as well as those who hang out in parks, playground equipment and dump used PPE material. Staff had recommended that we in the Town of Milton continue to enforce the provincial rules and focus more on education. This measure I support entirely. We already have bylaw officers as well as Halton Police monitoring parks, trails and town properties and residents can continue to report infractions using the Halton Police COVID line (905) 825-4777 and people can learn more at www.haltonpolice.ca
The second item I brought up in the meeting was looking forward post COVID19 are we, as a part of the continuous improvement and the core services review, looking at the possibility of redefining some of our positions to possibly offer tele-commuting options going forward. As we have seen through previous reports, in the next few years the town will have to increase the number of staff working and long term plans are to build an addition to Milton Town Hall to accommodate future growth needs. If more people are working from home, using shared meeting spaces like the Milton Innovation Centre and other locations, the less need there will be for physical additions to town hall, therefore deferring or postponing future capital costs. Staff will of course keep this in mind moving forward. I call it “looking at the silver lining” as during the COVID19 situation, staff have done an incredible job keeping the business of the town flowing and adapting quite well to the “work from home” model. I will keep you posted as this continues.
Some concerns were brought up by our finance staff saying that in a “worst case scenario” of the current level of social/physical distancing guidelines continuing until the end of 2020, the Town could realize a revenue shortfall of close to $14 Million. Of course this is a situation we don’t expect, but we should prepare for. It can also aid once again in reviewing some of the services we provide and if they are currently viable going forward. The Town in the report states clearly that we are in a good cash flow situation as tax reserve accounts as well as some of our short term investments can aid in bringing us back into balance. As I’ve brought up a number of times, the municipal level of government is not able to run a deficit as with our provincial and federal partners. We must balance our books each and every year and a more formal financial plan is forthcoming by staff in the coming weeks.
Here is more details from the press release earlier today.
News Release
On April 14, the Town of Milton’s Strategic Management Team (SMT) presented a COVID-19 update report to Milton Council, outlining how the Town is responding tothe pandemic.
Since the beginning of this crisis, the Town’s focus and immediate actions have been on the safety of staff and residents, continuity of essential services and providing for the community’s needs.
As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, the Town’s Crisis Management Team (CMT) is monitoring the situation and reassessing the Town’s response on a daily basis, in consultation with Halton Region Public Health and various Town departments.
To date, CMT has implemented many actions including, but not limited to:
- Declaration of a State of Emergency;
- Closure of all Town facilities and park amenities;
- Additional safety measures and protocols in all aspects of the Town’s operations and service delivery;
- Financial assistance with respect to property taxes and development charge indexing;
- Revisions to the Town’s by-law enforcement to focus on safety-related issues;
- Maintenance of essential services and related staffing in a fiscally responsible manner.
Since March 17, all facilities have been closed and all recreation programs and theatre shows have been cancelled. Due to these closures and cancellations, the difficult decision was made in early April to temporarily place approximately 544 part-time, casual and seasonal employees on Emergency Leave or defer their start dates until further notice. The Town of Milton is committed to providing eligible staff with the support they need to access the financial relief programs offered by the federal government.
The Town continues to plan carefully through the pandemic to protect and maintain the financial stability of the organization. The most significant financial impact to the Town has been the loss of revenue associated with the closure of facilities and programs. A portion of this impact can be mitigated with reductions in the associated costs. Staff will continue to evaluate further opportunities as part of the planning for the balance of the year and will be reporting to Council with updates, reports and the regular variance reporting program.
For more information about the Town of Milton’s action to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, please visit milton.ca/coronavirus.
For the most up-to-date information on COVID-19, visit
Public Health Agency of Canada