Owen Sound has temporarily laid off 40 full-time city employees because of COVID-19.
Mayor Ian Boddy says workers impacted are those who deal directly with the community at city hall normally, or those who maintain facilities and parks that are not open or operating normally because of pandemic restrictions.
The city workers were given notices last week. The temporary layoffs take effect May 12.
Twenty seasonal workers and students will also not be called back to work this spring.
“Our revenue is down quite a bit, so we had to do something,” Mayor Boddy explains. “Strictly, they'll be laid off hopefully only as long as (COVID-19) has us shutdown and then they'll be hired back right after.”
City revenues have fallen from a number of sources due to the pandemic, Boddy notes, such as the city offering free garbage bag tags, free public transit, no arena or facility bookings and no interest on late taxes and utility bills.