GUELPH – An updated report on the county’s spending of Canada Community Building Fund (CCBF) grants outlines future investments and reminisces on past projects.
The agreement for the transfer of CCBF revenues (formerly known as the Federal Gas Tax) under the New Deal for Cities and Communities was originally signed in 2005.
The purpose of the funds is to invest in environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure.
In 2024, Wellington County entered a new agreement with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario for the transfer of federal funds.
According to an April 15 county administrative, finance and human resources (AFHR) committee report, “The agreement expands on the eligible categories and requires that municipalities clearly demonstrate that projects funded with federal dollars be prioritized based on an asset management framework.”
Since the program’s inception, the county has received more than $53.2 in federal funding and invested $53 million in local infrastructure, solid waste services, capacity building and community energy systems.
The difference plus interest earned sits in the county’s reserve fund ($2.8 million), and is reflected as deferred revenue on the county’s financial statements.
“It’s the federal government’s mean infrastructure transfer to municipalities, and it helps us maintain our infrastructure,” county treasurer Ken DeHart told the Advertiser.
“It’s a matter of how we do the roads construction in an environmentally sustainable way.”
DeHart noted the county spent a total of $93.4 million on CCBF-related projects, with $53 million coming from CCBF, “so we’ve really leveraged another $40 million of other funding sources in order to construct even more.”
The $40 million primarily comes from property taxes.
“But in some cases there may be a contribution from another municipality [or] in some rare cases there may be smaller grants applied,” DeHart said.
“It could be a whole host of it but … 90% of it (revenue) or more would be property taxes.”
The CCBF delivers over $2.4 billion yearly to over 3,700 communities across the county. The funding is indexed at two per cent and delivered in $100 million increments.
According to the federal government, over the next five years the CCBF will provide over $4.7 billion in funding in the province, starting with $895 million in 2024-25.
County projects
Since 2005 the county has used CCBF for several projects, including:
– road works, 57%;
– bridges and culverts, 40%;
– solid waste services, 1%;
– capacity building, 1%; and
– community energy solutions, 1%.
The most expensive project totalled just under $6.7 million for road work on Wellington Road 50, 3rd Line and Wellington Road 24. A close second was construction of the Bosworth bridge on Wellington Road 7, which totalled $6.4 million. The Salem bridge on Wellington Road 18 cost $4.1 million.
In 2025, the county is to receive $3.2 million in CCBF funding, with estimated funding from 2026-28 totalling $9.8 million.
The AFHR committee received the CCBF report for information.
