Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie says the coronavirus pandemic has cost the city about $9 million so far. In a video posted to Twitter on Monday, Guthrie said there’s been about $5 million in expenditures related to the city’s response to COVID-19 and about a $4 million loss in revenue.
But the mayor added staff at city hall have been able to save about $4.8 million. “Our management has also done some great steps, like no discretionary spending, no rehiring at this point, looking at our capital projects to see about delaying,” Guthrie said.
Guthrie declared a state of emergency on March 26 and the city has closed all of its facilities until July 5. The city has also temporarily laid off 601 part-time and casual employees. [ Sign up for our Health