The Town of Minto wants the federal and provincial governments to abandon the current “lottery” system for funding infrastructure programs in favour of “sustained funding” based on the value of tangible assets, population and similar criteria.
At the Aug. 27 meeting, the town approved a report from CAO Bill White and treasurer Gordon Duff, providing a recommended list of comments in response to requests for input from the Ministry of Rural Affairs.
The request for input was confirmed to the town’s delegation at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in August.
The province plans to consult with the federal government on how to integrate the provincial commitment to provide $100 million for roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure in small and rural municipalities with the federal government’s 10-year extension to the Build Canada program beginning in 2014.
The staff report indicates Minto needs to spend between $1.5 million and $2 million annually on assets (excluding water and sewer infrastructure), with funding coming from property taxes and grants.
“The fact that a one per cent (increase) on property taxes raises only $40,000 makes it prohibitively expensive to raise sufficient funds to address annual depreciation alone,” the report states.
“To reach this amount, property taxes would have to increase in the order of 50 per cent. This does not include regular maintenance or new infrastructure.”
While Minto has been fairly successful in obtaining funds through the merit-based application process, including being one of the few mu
nicipalities to receive funds under the most recent Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiatives ($590,000 for work on the 16th Line culvert), the report states the process is time consuming and often fruitless.
“The process creates winners and losers each year and does not allow for regular planning. If the town had in the range of $500,000 to $600,000 in sustained reliable funding for infrastructure, then proper financial planning can occur,” the report states.
White said other municipalities attending the AMO conference and a recent discussion session in Elmvale also preferred sustained funding to the merit-based application approach.
“Most municipalities were not in favour of a merit-based application process where, year after year, we have to apply with complicated applications that are reviewed and scored in a complicated way by the province,” said White.
Mayor George Bridge noted, “It’s just a lottery almost – you throw it in there and hope you get something.”
In their report, White and Duff also took issue with the ministry’s use of the term “entitlement program” to describe non merit-based funding models in a discussion paper provided by the province to municipalities.
“The province calls it an entitlement program. It really isn’t an entitlement program,” White told council.
“It’s funding assets that all our ratepayers require and others who come to this community need; and of course we all pay plenty in income and property taxes and to see some of that come back in infrastructure is very important and, in my mind, very different from an entitlement program.”
Council accepted the recommendation in the staff report to provide the following comments to the province:
– the Town of Minto supports the province’s new municipal infrastructure program and encourages the federal government to work cooperatively with the province to implement a program of sustained funding for infrastructure based on the value of tangible capital assets, population and similar measures rather than a grant-based application system;
– that the terminology of “entitlement program” not be used with respect to the transfer of federal and provincial funds towards maintaining municipal infrastructure assets that are maintained for the benefit of ratepayers who already pay (substantial amounts of) federal and provincial income tax;
– small and rural municipalities with connecting link highways within their boundaries should be given an additional grant within the $100 million for maintenance of these provincial assets;
– small and rural municipalities be given access to Provincial Gas Tax funding in addition to MIII funding to help address infrastructure needs;
– the province should eliminate the cost and time associated with merit-based funding approaches and provide sustained and reliable funding to municipalities implementing their asset management plans; and
– that the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative not impact current operational funding under the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund for rural and small lower tier municipalities, who have no direct benefit from the provincial upload of social services.
