Layoffs and spending reductions in Kelowna

The City of Kelowna has started spending reductions in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

Mayor Colin Basran issued a statement Monday, outlining the changes.

Among the measures, the city has put a hold on hiring except for critical positions.

About 90 positions are being held vacant, and 64 part-time workers were laid off.

Base budgets have also been reduced for all non-essential and new spending.

“The city’s economic approach during this pandemic is two pronged – tighten our belts and be a catalyst for economic recovery,” said Basra.

“Every dollar we spend has a direct economic impact in our community. We’re aware that anything we cancel or postpone has an impact on someone or some business locally.”

The mayor also said capital expansion at Kelowna International Airport would be minimized with reduced operations to reflect current airline traffic.

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Here is the complete statement issued by Mayor Colin Basran

I’ll get to a few points in a minute about what the City is doing to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the effects it’s having on our community, but I want to start by thanking you for helping to keep our community informed.

Information is vitally important right now, and we appreciate you getting the word out to people about what measures are being taken to limit the spread of the virus and how people need to behave.

It gets repetitive, I know, but the BC Centre for Disease Control says the best ways to prevent transmission of the virus are to isolate yourself if you’re sick, practice social distancing and to wash your hands often. While most of our citizens are doing their part unfortunately, we are still seeing examples of those who are not.

There are many angles to this story, but the two dominant points of focus for local government at this point are the health risk and the economic fallout.

I’m going to start today on the economic front this time, since we have a few new things to pass along.

The City’s economic approach during this pandemic is two pronged – tighten our belts and be a catalyst for economic recovery.

Every dollar we spend has a direct economic impact in our community. We’re aware that anything we cancel or postpone has an impact on someone or some business locally.

That said, our immediate focus is on costs reductions considering revenue is projected to decrease. Effective immediately staff have been directed to reduce operating budgets through the following measures:

• Reduce base budgets for non-essential and new spending – this includes things like professional consulting, materials and supplies, purchasing & contract services along with other specific area reductions.
• Hold on hiring except for critical positions approved by City Manager; currently approximately 90 positions are being held vacant and 64 part-time positions were laid off
• Hold on all non-essential travel and training for staff
• Review capital projects to look at potential deferrals
• Minimize capital expansion at the Kelowna International Airport and reduce operations reflective of current airline traffic

In addition, City Council has directed staff to review the provisional budget presented to Council in December 2019 and look at what might be eliminated or deferred. Council’s expectation is the final budget, slated to be presented to Council on April 27, will look different than the one approved in late 2019. Local governments cannot run a deficit and must continue to provide many essential services the community relies on including but not limited to police services, fire, water, roads and transportation and solid waste.

We are also working on an approach to coordinate efforts of Central Okanagan business community, both public and private, to overcome the immediate economic challenges of the pandemic and to proactively support and reenergize the impacted sectors of our economy.

We are encouraged that the measures senior levels of government have taken to date and their signal that more announcements are a head will help to mitigate the impact to our citizens and businesses.

We’ll have more detail on the regional approach in the days ahead as that plan comes together.

On the public health front, we are following Dr. Bonnie Henry’s orders in for City operations – closing buildings to the public, keeping a safe physical distance, working from home, enhancing remote services and maintaining clean workplaces.

City staff have been in conversations with their provincial counterparts in light of the new provincial order announcement on Friday. In general, the City will comply with whatever the province requires, and in fact is already doing much of what was announced.

For now, the provincial order mandates local Bylaw Enforcement Officers to act as educators to anyone not complying with the B.C. Medical Health Officer’s orders for things like physical distancing in parks or businesses. They can also report situations of continued non-compliance to Provincial public health authorities for their enforcement if needed.

In Kelowna, the RCMP have been handling the majority of these complaints as they have both the jurisdiction and the authority to do so. The City is working with the RCMP to assume the first response duties, and is working with Interior Health to ensure clear, consistent and responsive processes are is in place.

We have also worked with our regional government neighbours to formulate a list of possible public buildings that might be needed for a variety of uses if the pandemic overwhelms existing services, such as food warehouses, care homes, isolation areas and hospitals.

The Province’s suspension of local states of emergencies for municipalities in B.C. aligns with the City’s decision not to declare one. The provincial state of emergency provides all the necessary powers to address the immediate needs in our community for safety and compliance with the Medical Health Officer’s orders.

In closing I want to thank our front-line workers, City Staff and all those who continue to provide services essential to preserving life, health, public safety and basic societal functioning through this unprecedented time. We will get through this together, and we will recover together.