COLUMBUS – Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther says the city’s coffers have taken a hit from the six-month-old COVID-19 pandemic.
Ginther and Auditor Megan Kilgore announced Monday that that the impacts of COVID-19 have drastically reduced revenue expectations for 2020 and they reported a $41.5 million reduction in the city’s general fund to City Council.
“Because our revenue is so closely tied to income tax, the staggering unemployment rate has drastically reduced our revenue for 2020. As we work on our budget for 2021, we need to anticipate this lost revenue that may well continue into the next year,” Ginther said.
Kilgore warned the losses may continue through the remainder of the year.
The city has tried to tighten its belt by eliminating travel, delaying raises and imposing a hiring freeze while using federal CARES Act dollars to offset expenses related to the pandemic.
Those moves saved about $40 million, Ginther and Kilgore said.
The additional shortfall in the general fund will be made up by using money from the basic city services fund, which currently has a balance of $20.8 million.
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The state in Tuesday reported 1,001 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 for a total of 139,485 cases and 4,506 deaths since the pandemic began. The 87 additional deaths in the last 24 hours is the third-highest one-day total ever. There were 868 fewer active cases than Monday.
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Governor Mike DeWine on Monday signed a bill that ensures immunity to individuals, schools, health care providers, businesses, and other entities from lawsuits arising from exposure, transmission, or contraction of COVID-19, or any mutation of the virus, as long as they were not showing reckless, intentional, or willful misconduct.
It also shields health care providers from liability in actions regarding the care and services they provided during the pandemic unless they were acting recklessly or displaying intentional misconduct.