Highway downloading could bring big costs to Centre Wellington, says Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj.
Following the recent Good Roads convention, Ross-Zuj updated council on the issue.
She said the municipal sessions were directed to the concerns that Centre Wellington shares. She added there was information on wind turbines and the Green Energy Act.
“We also talked a lot about infrastructure and where things stand in terms of sustainable funding,” said Ross-Zuj.
The horse racing industry also took centre stage and how the province is dealing with that.
She added Premier Kathleen Wynne was also in Elora last week to make an announcement – “on the new deal”.
Ross-Zuj said she is concerned about infrastructure.
“There was a lot of lip service paid to the fact that they realize the (distribution) formula is not working for Ontario,” said Ross-Zuj.
She said the per capita allocations do not reflect the geography of Ontario, nor does it capture the real needs of municipalities across the province.
While $90 million was recently released, Ross-Zuj said that “again, it was focussed on per capita … which left us out of being able to apply for any assistance.
“Our story of 104 bridges was certainly out there, and on centre stage.”
Within Centre Wellington there are 104 bridges which need to be maintained by the municipality. That story, she said, demonstrated the needs of individual municipalities are different, and will be illustrated further through the asset management plans now underway in most municipalities.
She hoped that information will provide different opportunities for the township, rather than having funding distributed based on population.
“It’s difficult because per capita funding is easy to defend in court – the other will be more difficult,” the mayor said.
Councillor Walt Visser sarcastically said that right before the Good Roads convention, Centre Wellington got “the good News” that the township now has 105 bridges to look after.
Visser clarified the province has downloaded the provincial highway through Fergus, though he added there is hope to get the province to change its mind.
Ross-Zuj agreed with Visser. “That was not good News for us.”
The Highway 6 bridge in Fergus is due for replacement in the next few years.
Ross-Zuj said there are a lot of details missing regarding whether anything will replace the Connecting Link program.
“But it’s not just ourselves that got that rude awakening.”
She explained that in the north, Mount Forest had also been waiting for bridge funding to come through.
“We’ve got a lot more work to do to get the information to plan our strategy,” said Ross-Zuj. “If we have this (stretch of highway) downloaded to us, it will be an enormous cost.”
She noted there are success stories in Centre Wellington as it invested wisely in its bridges.
