While work goes ahead on the regional recreation centre, work also proceeds on making sure all of the promised federal and provincial funding will be there to help pay for it.
Owen Sound council unanimously endorsed a resolution calling on the Building Canada Fund to keep its promise to fully fund the capital projects it has approved – like the rec centre – even if those projects are not completed by the deadline of March 31, 2011.
As it stands now, with the rec centre several months behind schedule, Owen Sound has been told it will only receive funding based on money spent by the deadline.
Council’s resolution, authored by Deb Haswell, says the Building Canada Fund and, by extension, the federal and provincial governments, need to recognize that municipalities are equal partners in the initiative.
Imposing arbitrary deadlines does not recognize that equal partnership, Haswell says, nor does it respect the fiscal management of municipalities.
Haswell says she believes other municipalities across Canada will endorse similar resolutions, pointing out that hundreds of infrastructure projects are in the same boat as the rec centre – unable to be completed by the deadline.