As the Ontario government's next budget looms, cities and towns continue to ask for more money, saying old funding formulas are leaving them cash-strapped.
RELATED: After the Ford government agreed to take responsibility for the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway, saving Toronto from one of its most expensive assets, other Ontario cities are calling for more funding and new deals, warning a 'perfect storm' is on the horizon.
The deal also featured money being handed to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow for new subway trains, homelessness and to operate two light rail projects. “Now, we are dealing with mental health, with addictions, with homelessness and of course a housing crisis,” she added. “None of those issues were contemplated 100 years ago.”Mead-Ward suggested homeowners are shouldering too much of the financial burden through their property taxes and called on the federal and provincial governments to “strike a new deal.”
“We will very much be seeing increases in property taxes, user fees as a result of all of the various factors,” AMO’s director of policy and government relations, Lindsay Jones, said during pre-budget consultations.Nando Iannicca, the chair of the Region of Peel, wrote to Ford and his finance minister in December complaining that “outdated funding models” had left local government picking up the strain.
“Peel Region, like many other municipalities, is facing significant fiscal challenges due to outdated funding models, and historic under-funding for provincially mandated services,” Iannica wrote. Ford said he was spending billions on infrastructure for towns and cities, adding: “We also do a lot of one-offs.”“You mentioned Toronto, that is pretty unique — one of the largest cities in North America, they have unique needs like the subway and policing and so on and so forth,” he said.that Queen’s Park is always open to working with local mayors to hear individual requests but would make funding decisions on a case-by-case basis, not under the umbrella of new deals.
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