Penticton city budget takes a $3.6 million hit to pandemic

The City of Penticton’s 2020 budget has taken a $3.6 million dollar hit as a result of COVID-19 related expenses, city council heard earlier this week.

Chief Financial Officer Jim Bauer said in a staff report to council that lost gaming and recreation revenue made up the bulk of the shortfall, with transit, parking, and building and licensing revenues also contributing to lost city income.

The city has been able to balance out the losses through staff layoffs, reductions in city services, cutting of conference and training costs, and through reduced contributions to the Ironman race that has been cancelled for this year, Bauer said.

Capital spending was also reduced by $8.1 million this year, bringing the capital budget spending down to $17 million.

In order to bolster the economy and encourage use of downtown businesses, council also agreed to waive metered parking fees and sidewalk user fees for the remainder of the year.

Monthly parking at city scramble and reserved lots and at hourly pay stationed lots are not affected by the change, which is expected to result in a loss of $235,000 of parking revenue.

Waiving of sidewalk fees to allow businesses to expand onto the street is expected to cost the city $2,500.

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