County supports AMO’s lobby for infrastructure funds

Prince Edward County Council agreed last night to support the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in its bid to close the gap between infrastructure that needs to be fixed and the money needed to accomplish the task.

The AMO’s “What’s Next Ontario” project looks at the looming fiscal gap facing Ontario’s municipalities and seeks sector support for closing it.

“Ontarians see infrastructure as the number one challenge facing their community,” said Lynn Dollin, AMO President. “We know that even if we raise property taxes and user fees by inflation (1.8 per cent) we will still be $3.6 billion short to fix the infrastructure gap, every year, for 10 years. This is what we need to address. As elected officials, how do we deal with this challenge? What is the best approach? Ontarians already pay the highest property taxes in the country. How high is too high?”

Prince Edward County’s road infrastructure problems have received much attention at Queen’s Park due to constant information and questions from Mayor Robert Quaiff, who this week continues to seek answers to concerns over Ministry of Transportation plans to work on three main entries into and out of the County.  Highway 49 was named the ‘worst road in the province’ in this year’s annual CAA contest.

The AMO resolution states the $3.6 billion average annual need would equate to annual increases of 4.6 per cent to province-wide property tax revenue for the next 10 years, presuming existing and multi-year federal and provincial transfers to municipal governments are fulfilled. If the transfers are not fulfilled beyond 2015 levels, it would require annual province-wide tax revenue increases of up to 8.35 per cent for 10 years.