The Town of South Bruce Peninsula is advocating for more stable funding for infrastructure.
Council passed a resolution Tuesday asking for the Ontario government to make permanent its current (recently doubled) Ontario Community Infrastructure Funding (OCIF) amounts for municipalities.
They say it will help keep infrastructure construction going, and help communities maintain their economic value.
The resolution is in support of a letter to Ontario’s Minister of Infrastructure from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, a body established by the Financial Accountability Officer Act in 2013. It produces independent analysis on the Province’s finances.
The Town’s resolution takes the view that federal and provincial funding programs tend to prioritize growth-related or housing enabling infrastructure projects over infrastructure renewal needs.
It says municipalities like South Bruce Peninsula have asset management plans that identify municipalities have significant backlogs and renewal needs for infrastructure.
The resolution says the Ontario government doubled the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) from $200 million a year to $400 million a year for 2021-2026 but it has not publicly committed to maintaining that level of funding beyond 2026.
The Town says the OCIF has become a “vital and indispensable resource for municipalities, assisting them with improving their asset management programs and meeting community-preserving infrastructure renewal needs.”
It asserts increased geopolitical uncertainty is threatening the economic prosperity of Canada, Ontario, and every municipality, and adds, municipal infrastructure is a key enabler and preserver of economic prosperity.
They note, “the Municipal Finance Officers’ Association of Ontario has heard from its members and their municipalities concerns regarding the potential erosion of existing municipal infrastructure and thus service levels in light of the ongoing focus on housing-enabling infrastructure by grant funding programs.”
The Town says it’s in the final year of the current five-year funding commitment, and needs clarification on a future funding commitment.
It says, “The grant program supports local road, bridge, water and wastewater projects for small, rural and northern municipalities.”
Staff say the following are a few of the projects that the Town has supported with the OCIF grant:
• 2025 – Berford Street Reconstruction Phase 2 ($937,6378)
• 2025 – Gould Street including Pengally ($595,775)
• 2026 – Millards Bridge ($400,000)
• 2026 – Silver Lake Road ($290,000)
Deputy Mayor Caleb Hull noted during discussion, “I’m really grateful for staff for treating the asset management plan like a living document and having an accurate asset management plan legitimizes our ask. It’s not just, ‘oh we need this more money,’ it is clear, defined, we need the money for these specific projects being road and bridges and wastewater.”
He added, “It think that it’s that we need the sustainable funds. We can’t be asking every year, and this is a great way of us asking.”
Councillor Kathy Durst added, “I’ve always looked at housing options, provision of housing at the municipal level, is that of course, we don’t build houses – we facilitate houses to be built in partnership with at this point, the Province and the other partners that might want to step in.”
Durst says she feels the Province lays down the rules of engagement, requiring municipalities to have well maintained asset management plans, but if the Province doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain it makes the arrangement difficult.