Centre Wellington is losing out on provincial infrastructure funds for work on St. David Street North in Fergus.
On Jan. 19 councillors reviewed the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs response to the township’s grant application.
While program operations manager Joel Locklin thanked the township for its application for the second intake of the Building Canada Fund – Small Communities Fund (SCF), he stated, “unfortunately, your project proposal was not selected to move forward to the application phase.”
Locklin stated this was a highly competitive intake with over 270 expressions of interest received.
“Your project proposal was not selected to move forward primarily because other applicants with highly critical projects had more challenging economic conditions and fiscal situations,” Locklin wrote.
He noted economic conditions and fiscal situations were assessed using a combination of:
– total weighted property assessment per household;
– median household income;
– average of net financial assets (between 2010-2014) per household; and
– average residential property taxes, user fees and service charges (between 2010 and 2014) per household as a percentage of median household income.
Over the summer the province launched a discussion guide and consultations as part of the Moving Ontario Forward initiative to solicit feedback on infrastructure priorities and the design of new programs outside the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Locklin stated that, through these consultations, feedback was received on municipal infrastructure programs, program design and application processes, and the need for stable, predictable infrastructure funding.
As the province moves forward with the delivery of infrastructure programs, the input received from these consultations will be taken into consideration, he added.
Centre Wellington councillor Mary Lloyd stated she’d asked for Locklin’s response to be included in the night’s agenda. She said, “It is important for our taxpayers and residents to know that we are working diligently … applying for granting and other levels of funding.”
Lloyd continued, “It’s kind of sad to say we were not successful … the province of Ontario seems to be stating we are under-taxed,” but, “I think a lot of our residents would state that they are not under-taxed in any way.”
Lloyd said council will continue to seek funding for the project.
