Hudson Bay council discussed recent financial issues during their most recent council meeting.
Thanks to the Safe Restart Canada grant and the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program grant, the town remains in good financial shape despite a drop in revenue and a rise in expenses during the pandemic, said Teresa Parkman, the town administrator.
“We did lose some rental income, the pool being closed down, more expenses, like cleaning and that kind of stuff. In the end,...we are sitting still in an okay position.”
The Town of Hudson Bay received $85,663 of federal Safe Restart money originally announced by the provincial government back in September. Saskatchewan communities received a total of $70.32 million to help them overcome the financial burdens of the pandemic.
For Hudson Bay, their portion will help them weather their drop in revenue, as well as the increase of expenses.
“We have buildings that we rent to nonprofit organizations and businesses. During COVID when they were shut down, we waived their rental fees. We're covering those kinds of things and then also just the extra cost in the hand sanitizing and disinfecting and the cleaners and all that kind of stuff in all our buildings.”
While this was the last meeting of the 2016-20 council term, Mayor Glenn McCaffery and the rest of the town council will be back at the table for their next meeting on Nov. 10 with new councillor Kelly Stonehouse joining them for the first meeting of the 2020-24 term.
