Sarnia council may consider withholding money from the County of Lambton at its next meeting June 1.
Councillor Bill Dennis thanked Mayor Mike Bradley for his attempt, albeit unsuccessful, to get county council to consider hiring freezes and other measures to mitigate the financial strain of COVID-19.
"Mayor Bradley, I'd like to commend you on your attempt to go to county council and try to get them to do basically the same thing that we did as Sarnia council," said Dennis. "To get them to reopen their budgets, tighten their belts. It's very, very disappointing, quite frankly that they chose not to do it."
Dennis admitted he was also surprised Bradley didn't have the full support of Sarnia council in Wyoming, considering city council was unanimous on mitigation steps in the city.
"We carry the load out there. We carry 50 per cent of the budget and I don't understand why they don't at least re-examine the budget to see if they can save some more money, considering we're going through the greatest challenge of our time since the great depression. It makes no sense to me, whatsoever."
Councillor Dave Boushy asked Sarnia's finance director if the city could reduce its contribution to the county levy by $10 million.
Suzanna Dieleman said there are provisions to defer quarterly payments until the city is able to collect on behalf of the county.
Council has asked staff to report back with available options at the June 1 meeting.
