Owen Sound is breathing a sigh of relief on one hand that it won’t lose 2 million dollars in provincial transfer fund payments next year.
But the city is seething at the almost 407 thousand dollar hit it will take.
Council was told on Monday night that Owen Sound will receive 1.62 million dollars from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund — which is a 20-per cent cut from the amount received in 2009.
The amount of money lost — while not the catastrophic loss the city had feared — still represents two per cent of the municipal budget.
It’s happening because of funding formula changes that penalize Owen Sound – it’s too big to benefit from the formula for smaller and more rural municipalities, and it’s far too small to qualify for money that goes to large urban centres.
Councillor Bill Twaddle calls it an “unconscionable” move by the province, comparing Premier Dalton McGuinty to the Grinch.
Twaddle says he’s disappointed that the lack of consistency in provincial transfer payments and the lack of certainty that those payments will even continue in the future leaves Owen Sound in a vulnerable state.
On top of that, he’s disillusioned that this news has come so late in the city’s budgeting process for next year.
Councillor Deb Haswell says people should be angry about what is happening.
She urged the city and ratepayers to make their displeasure known to the province as much and as loudly as possible.
Haswell says that’s the only hope for change.
Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners calls it a shell game being operated by the province.
She says Ontario is uploading certain responsibilities from municipalities, but slashing an equivalent amount of money, or even more.
That way the municipalities are no further ahead and, in many cases, are falling behind.
City-County Councillor Arlene Wright — who is also the Warden of Grey County — says other local municipalities will be hit even harder than Owen Sound.
She has no idea how they will cope with the financial burden being placed on them.