Thank you very much.
Good afternoon from Winnipeg. Thank you for the opportunity to be with you, and thank you to each committee member for the ongoing work you do to serve Canadians at this most unique moment in our history. I'm particularly glad to be with my former Winnipeg city councillor colleague and now a committee member of yours, Marty Morantz.
I do appreciate this committee's interest in how COVID-19 is affecting Canadian municipalities. I will speak from my local perspective as Winnipeg city councillor and chairman of the Standing Policy Committee on Finance. In the five minutes allotted to me, I will break my comments into three sections: the impact that COVID-19 is having on Winnipeg's city services; our city's financial response; and what the senior levels of government can do to assist Winnipeg, and other Canadian municipalities, at this moment and in the wake of this pandemic.
COVID-19 continues to impact City of Winnipeg revenues, expenses and services. In keeping with Manitoba health guidelines, the city has adjusted the service levels to help flatten the curve. All city-owned and -operated recreation centres, pools, arenas, libraries, play structures, skateboard parks, athletic fields and the like are closed to the public. Winnipeg transit has instituted an enhanced cleaning program to help sanitize buses. Starting on Monday, May 4, transit service will be reduced across the city to an enhanced Saturday schedule. Transit ridership has dropped by 70% over the same time last year. Early numbers estimate a $6-million loss in transit this month.
Our assessment and taxation department and bylaw enforcement services have suspended all interior residential and commercial property inspections. Water meter inspections, removals and replacements and on-site meter reading by city staff have been suspended. With City of Winnipeg revenues down and expenses increasing in some departments, our burn rate currently is estimated to be at $12 million per month. To offer financial relief to property and business owners, city council in Winnipeg adopted a plan to waive penalties for unpaid property and business taxes for up to three months following their due date. The lost revenue to the city for providing these financial support options is estimated to be $5.2 million.
Let me move next to the City of Winnipeg's financial response to the impact of COVID-19. By mid-March it had become apparent that the pandemic would impact the city's finances, so Winnipeg's city council asked our corporate finance team to provide economic modelling of the pandemic's potential impact and to develop a corresponding crisis cash flow management plan. That plan was developed and made public last week. The cash flow management plan centres on maintaining the city's liquidity and effectively addressing any deficits in the general revenue fund. This will be achieved by a combination of financial levers to be pulled, including the reduction of expenses through service reductions and layoffs, the possibility of advancing the timing of planned debenture issuance, and the transfer from the financial stabilization reserve as necessary.
The cash flow plan has been set up with a series of financial levers that are categorized into three tiers. I won't go into those tiers right now. Suffice it to say that tier one levers have already been pulled, or soon will be pulled. That includes the temporary layoff of 674 non-permanent community services staff and the temporary layoff of 250 transit staff, mostly operators. Tier two and three levers will only be used if the pandemic drags on.
As a final comment about Winnipeg's cash flow management plan, I want to emphasize that we made the determination to proceed with the city's recently adopted 2020 capital growth program. The city's capital budget is set to invest $370 million in important projects. This investment will assist to stimulate the struggling local economy and is estimated to provide over 2,300 jobs. To make significant cuts to the city's 2020 capital budget would further exacerbate the challenges our local economy is facing. This capital program will also provide significant taxation revenues for senior levels of government at this critical time.
That brings me finally to the topic of what senior levels of government can do to assist Winnipeg and other Canadian municipalities at this moment and also in the wake of this pandemic. Right now cities are facing significant financial pressure on our operating budgets.
The federal government could assist municipalities with, first of all, cash funding that allows municipalities the discretion to direct those funds where needed, whether that's to operating or capital budgets. Winnipeg supports the call of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for emergency operating funding for municipalities nationwide to keep essential services running and Canadians safe and supported.
The federal government could also ensure that the flow of federal funds, whether operating or capital, does not get hung up or slowed down at the federal or provincial level. If I may be so bold, the funds in existing federal programs for capital projects—for example, the investing in Canada infrastructure program—need to flow to municipalities faster.
In my experience—and I've been on council for six years—it takes too long for monies to get out the door and into the ground. By contrast, the federal gas tax program has been and remains an effective financing tool for municipalities, as the funds flow fairly quickly.
Looking ahead, in the wake of this pandemic, the federal government should see municipalities as vital partners in restoring Canada’s economy. The City of Winnipeg and all Canadian municipalities, I’m sure, want to be a key partners in the reopening and recovery of our local economies. We're willing to work with both the federal and the provincial governments to restore Canada’s economy.
My final comment is that the federal government should work with municipalities and provinces towards establishing a new long-term, predictable, growth-oriented funding model for the municipalities. Locally, for example, if the City of Winnipeg has base funding level certainty for present and future years from senior levels of government, it allows council to plan the delivery of city services and capital investment with a longer-term view in mind. That in turn enables council to provide a greater level of predictability to our residents and taxpayers and to our funding partners on taxation, fee and service levels for the coming years.
Once again, I thank you for the opportunity you've given me to provide comments today.