DRAYTON – Mapleton Mayor Gregg Davidson is set to submit a letter to the province in support of a social and economic prosperity review.
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario has been leading the charge for a prosperity review since the fall of 2023.
According to AMO, “The province can, and should, invest more in the prosperity of communities.
“Current provincial-municipal fiscal arrangements are undermining Ontario’s economic prosperity and quality of life.”
Mapleton’s council and finance department agree with those statements.
“Nearly a third of municipal spending in Ontario is for services in areas of provincial responsibility and expenditures are outpacing provincial contributions by nearly $4 billion each year,” states a township finance department report to council on Aug. 13.
The report reiterated statements from AMO, including those above, and recommended council send the province a letter in support of AMO’s call for a prosperity review.
“Municipalities across Ontario are facing increasingly complex challenges, such as tackling homelessness and climate change, without the financial tools to solve them,” the report states.
In Mapleton, the township is struggling to sustain growth for the community through increased investments in core infrastructure, the report adds.
“While the township has a strong history of being fiscally responsible and attentive to changes in our community needs, we continue to be hampered by provincial legislation pertaining to development charges,” it states.
“Unprecedented population and housing growth will require significant investments in municipal infrastructure … and municipal revenues such as property taxes do not grow with the economy or inflation.”
The reports adds, “Property taxpayers – including people on fixed incomes and small businesses – can’t afford to subsidize income redistribution programs for those most in need.”
Property taxes were never meant “to fund systemic social change,” said Mapleton finance director Patrick Kelly.
“Municipalities are being asked to take on complex health and social challenges – like homelessness, supporting asylum seekers and addressing the mental health and addiction crises,” the report states.
“A lot of … costs related to social issues are being pushed down to municipalities and even more so being pushed down to lower-tier municipalities, where we don’t have … funding mechanisms in place to support them,” Kelly said.
“That’s not to say that they aren’t important issues that all of us see the need to attend to and address,” he said, but “with the lack of funding in place in municipalities, councils and staff really can only play an advocacy role in those needs.”
It’s time for the province and municipalities to work collaboratively towards solutions for the long-term stability and sustainability of municipal finances, the report states.
Mapleton council is joining AMO in calling on the province to “commit to undertaking with the AMO a comprehensive social and economic prosperity review to promote” that financial security.
Copies of a letter from Davidson calling for the review were to be sent to Premier Doug Ford, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra, and Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy.
AMO has also called on Ford to update the partnership between provincial and municipal governments, in order to “build sustainable communities, a solid foundation for economic growth, and quality of life.”
