{"id":36533,"date":"2020-12-10T00:34:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T14:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=36533"},"modified":"2020-12-09T10:46:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T00:46:27","slug":"covid-response-city-deficit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/covid-response-city-deficit\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID response pushes out city\u2019s deficit"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE second wave of coronavirus in Victoria will hit the City of Greater Geelong\u2019s financial result for 2020-2021 harder than expected, despite better-than-forecast figures over the previous quarter.<\/p>\n

Councillors received a report at their meeting on Tuesday last week with an update for the period covering July 1 to September 30.<\/p>\n

It showed the City has so far recorded an operating deficit of $1.4 million, well ahead of the $4.6 million deficit forecast to this stage of the year.<\/p>\n

However, an updated forecast for the full 2020-21 financial year predicts the City will now return an operating deficit of $33.4 million – $8.8 million more than the $24.6 million deficit forecast when the budget was adopted by the council in June.<\/p>\n

The report notes the change in outlook is largely driven by the council\u2019s extra COVID-19 community and business support packages, as well as revenue lost due to the forced closure of leisure facilities during the second wave.<\/p>\n

Geelong mayor Stephanie Asher<\/a> said the higher deficit figure had not been completely unexpected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic has impacted the entire community, and the council has not been spared.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterestingly, when our CEO Martin Cutter and I were first discussing the idea of going into deficit in March, he noted that if the COVID situation continued for six months or more we would likely be looking at an impact in excess of $30 million. So his insight was incredibly accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2020-21 budget has a strategic focus on infrastructure investment and COVID-19 business and community support.<\/p>\n

It includes the city\u2019s largest ever capital works program, forecast at $160.1 million, designed to deliver essential community facilities and stimulate local jobs and spending during construction.<\/p>\n

The quarterly financial update notes that $25.5 million has so far been spent on capital works.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deficit is partly outside of our control given the forced closure of our facilities, however it\u2019s also been a conscious decision to invest heavily in support measures, community facilities and services to help our community recover from the pandemic,\u201d Cr Asher said.<\/p>\n

The update also reports that the City has been actively seeking state and federal government grants to assist the Greater Geelong community\u2019s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and has secured more than $10 million so far in 2020-21.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s finance portfolio holder, Cr Anthony Aitken, said the government grants were a positive from the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have secured a combined $10.6 million from the Victorian and Federal Governments to employ nearly 200 new staff, support outdoor dining initiatives and fund road and local infrastructure projects,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank them for their support.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted all tiers of governments and the City of Greater Geelong isn\u2019t immune.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Council will continue to monitor the impacts to our financial position.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE second wave of coronavirus in Victoria will hit the City of Greater Geelong\u2019s financial result for 2020-2021 harder than expected, despite better-than-forecast figures over the previous quarter. Councillors received a report at their meeting on Tuesday last week with an update for the period covering July 1 to September 30. It showed the City […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":34146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-36533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCOVID response pushes out city\u2019s deficit - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/covid-response-city-deficit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID response pushes out city\u2019s deficit - Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE second wave of coronavirus in Victoria will hit the City of Greater Geelong\u2019s financial result for 2020-2021 harder than expected, despite better-than-forecast figures over the previous quarter. 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