Chestermere City Council approved the two-month extension for the Utility Monthly Payment Deferral Program during the June 2 Regular Meeting of Council.
With the two-month extension, the utility monthly deferral program will now end Aug. 31, to provide financial relief to residents.
“When we were considering the June 30 end date of the utility deferral program it made sense that the expiry date is a little too soon given where we’re at in the response to COVID-19,” said the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Brenda Hewko.
Repayments for the utility deferral program will now match the property tax deferral program and begin in September.
“That would be the normal utility bill plus part of the repayment adding up to $605. It will increase in March, the reason being the utility portion would be paid off, but then the repayment plan for the taxes would start that would be an increase to $645,” Hewko said.
“By the end of 2021 or the start of 2022, we would be back to the typical payment of just monthly utilities and the TIP program. It’s moving everything out by two or three months,” she said.
Adding, “We would still follow the overall design of repaying the utilities first, once the utilities are repaid, we would look at the repayment of the taxes.”
The participation rate of the utility deferral program, and the property tax deferral program is less than five per cent.
“We can estimate the range for the short-term cash flow anywhere from $500,000 to 1 million,” Hewko said.
“We should be able to cash flow it through our bank account balance. If needed, we do have access to an additional line of credit,” she added. “We know that our funding can happen through operations at this point in time.”
Deputy Mayor Michelle Young was in favour of the two-month program extension, as the province begins economic relaunch strategies.
“I think this is a great idea. There are still going to be people who are having economic challenges, and there are going to be some people who will be struggling to even catch up once they are back at work,” Young said.
Mayor Marshall Chalmers added, “Council has said from the start that administration would work with the situations that are presented to assist however we can.”
