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EMPOWER AND
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BIG CITY MAYORS
"DOWNLOADING BY STEALTH"
28 ONTARIO MAYORS CALL OUT FORD GOVERNMENT:
Provincial Cuts Force Cities to Hike Taxes or Slash Crucial Municipal Services
Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie
Mayors of Ontario's big cities are accusing the Ontario government of 'downloading by stealth'.
Provncial budget cuts--implemented without consulting anyone--are forcing municipalities to raise taxes or cancel important services and programs, the mayors say in a joint statement posted on April 30.
"This amounts to millions of dollars per year in funding reductions to vital, front-line services including public health, policing, library services, child care, tourism, and flood management," Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie says in a joint statement from LUMCO, the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario.
"This is on top of a cap on Ontario gas tax funding and ongoing uncertainty with major changes to ambulance services. The Government of Ontario is effectively forcing municipalities to consider tax increases or service cuts to absorb the download in services it has proposed."
Guthrie says this, in effect, forces municipalities to take over and pay for provincial responsibilities.
The Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) includes mayors of 28 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, amounting to 67% of Ontario’s population.
Provncial budget cuts--implemented without consulting anyone--are forcing municipalities to raise taxes or cancel important services and programs, the mayors say in a joint statement posted on April 30.
"This amounts to millions of dollars per year in funding reductions to vital, front-line services including public health, policing, library services, child care, tourism, and flood management," Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie says in a joint statement from LUMCO, the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario.
"This is on top of a cap on Ontario gas tax funding and ongoing uncertainty with major changes to ambulance services. The Government of Ontario is effectively forcing municipalities to consider tax increases or service cuts to absorb the download in services it has proposed."
Guthrie says this, in effect, forces municipalities to take over and pay for provincial responsibilities.
The Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) includes mayors of 28 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, amounting to 67% of Ontario’s population.
Historically, the system of municipal funding in Ontario sees billions of dollars of income, sales and other taxes collected from taxpayers in cities and towns.
That money is collected by the provincial government, which then gives a fraction of that money back to municipalities--and with conditions on how it must be spent.
Or, under the Ford model, it simply keeps the money at the provincial level, creating budgetary shortfalls in cities and towns that can only be made up by higher property taxes.
(More below)
That money is collected by the provincial government, which then gives a fraction of that money back to municipalities--and with conditions on how it must be spent.
Or, under the Ford model, it simply keeps the money at the provincial level, creating budgetary shortfalls in cities and towns that can only be made up by higher property taxes.
(More below)
Large Urban Mayors' Caucus of Ontario meets with Prime Minister Trudeau in 2016
Charter City Toronto proposes a different model, whereby a defined share of income and sales taxes raised in cities and towns would stay in cities and towns, to be spent as municipalities see fit, not as dictated by the province.
Creating City Charters across the province would provide an opportunity to re-negotiate this and other aspects of the relationship between cities and the province, giving cities greater autonomy over municipal decision-making.
Protecting those City Charters in the Canadian Constitution would prevent hostile provincial governments from punishing cities unilaterally and without consultation.
Charter City Toronto is currently working to draft comprehensive proposals for a new relationship between Ontario's cities and the province.
For more information, contact us at chartercitytoronto@gmail.com
Creating City Charters across the province would provide an opportunity to re-negotiate this and other aspects of the relationship between cities and the province, giving cities greater autonomy over municipal decision-making.
Protecting those City Charters in the Canadian Constitution would prevent hostile provincial governments from punishing cities unilaterally and without consultation.
Charter City Toronto is currently working to draft comprehensive proposals for a new relationship between Ontario's cities and the province.
For more information, contact us at chartercitytoronto@gmail.com
Full Text of Mayors' Statement
Cam Guthrie, Mayor of Guelph and Chair of the Large Urban Mayors' Caucus of Ontario
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29 April 2019
Today, Mayor Cam Guthrie, Chair of the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) released the following statement on behalf of Ontario’s big-city mayors: “Big-city mayors from across Ontario are extremely concerned that the Government of Ontario is engaging in downloading by stealth - implementing funding and governance changes to municipalities without any consultation, after cities have already approved our budgets. This amounts to millions of dollars per year in funding reductions to vital, front-line services including public health, policing, library services, child care, tourism, and flood management. This is on top of a cap on Ontario gas tax funding and ongoing uncertainty with major changes to ambulance services. The Government of Ontario is effectively forcing municipalities to consider tax increases or service cuts to absorb the download in services it has proposed. The first line in Finance Minister Fedeli’s budget speech indicated the government would not raise taxes. The budget paper explicitly says that changes and costs need to be sustainable for both orders of government. There is only one taxpayer. It is disingenuous to say that the changes are sustainable, if municipalities are left to consider how to make up the shortfalls. |
Municipalities are being notified of these changes in a piecemeal fashion through letters to agencies, after municipal budgets have already been passed – giving no time or opportunity for Councils to find efficiencies or economies of scale.
We applaud the Province’s willingness to listen to communities’ concerns in some cases, for example on Bill 66 and changes to autism funding. But we question why it takes an outcry before we are heard. Municipalities are simply asking to be consulted beforehand, so that we can work alongside the Province on changes that are in the best interests of the taxpayers we represent. We support the Province’s efforts to get its budget deficit under control. But it cannot do so on the backs of local taxpayers, without consultation.
We call on the Government of Ontario to postpone the implementation of these funding cuts to at least 2020, to allow for proper discussion with municipalities and local residents. We call on the Government of Ontario to be transparent about its intentions and engage with cities before downloading more services.
City budgets across the Province have already been passed because, as the Province knows, municipalities operate on a fiscal year that runs from January to December – unlike the Province’s April to March fiscal year. Residents have begun to pay their taxes, which have been set locally after many months of consultations with residents about the services they want their local governments to provide and how much they are willing to pay for them.
LUMCO mayors have invited Premier Ford and Minister Clark to the next LUMCO meeting. We sincerely wish for them to attend, so that we can sit down together to find a better way forward for all Ontarians.”
Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph, Chair of LUMCO
For more information:
Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph, Chair of LUMCO
519-837-5643
mayor@guelph.ca
About LUMCO
The Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) includes mayors of 28 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, amounting to 67% of Ontario’s population. LUMCO advocates for issues and policies important to Ontario’s largest cities.
We applaud the Province’s willingness to listen to communities’ concerns in some cases, for example on Bill 66 and changes to autism funding. But we question why it takes an outcry before we are heard. Municipalities are simply asking to be consulted beforehand, so that we can work alongside the Province on changes that are in the best interests of the taxpayers we represent. We support the Province’s efforts to get its budget deficit under control. But it cannot do so on the backs of local taxpayers, without consultation.
We call on the Government of Ontario to postpone the implementation of these funding cuts to at least 2020, to allow for proper discussion with municipalities and local residents. We call on the Government of Ontario to be transparent about its intentions and engage with cities before downloading more services.
City budgets across the Province have already been passed because, as the Province knows, municipalities operate on a fiscal year that runs from January to December – unlike the Province’s April to March fiscal year. Residents have begun to pay their taxes, which have been set locally after many months of consultations with residents about the services they want their local governments to provide and how much they are willing to pay for them.
LUMCO mayors have invited Premier Ford and Minister Clark to the next LUMCO meeting. We sincerely wish for them to attend, so that we can sit down together to find a better way forward for all Ontarians.”
Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph, Chair of LUMCO
For more information:
Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph, Chair of LUMCO
519-837-5643
mayor@guelph.ca
About LUMCO
The Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) includes mayors of 28 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, amounting to 67% of Ontario’s population. LUMCO advocates for issues and policies important to Ontario’s largest cities.
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List of LUMCO Mayors:
Mayor Shaun Collier, Town of Ajax Mayor Jeff Lehman, City of Barrie Mayor Patrick Brown, City of Brampton Mayor Kevin Davis, City of Brantford Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, City of Burlington Mayor Kathryn McGarry, City of Cambridge Mayor Darrin Canniff, City of Chatham-Kent Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph Mayor Fred Eisenberger, City of Hamilton Mayor Bryan Paterson, City of Kingston Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, City of Kitchener Mayor Ed Holder, City of London Mayor Frank Scarpitti, City of Markham Mayor Gordon Krantz, Town of Milton |
Mayor Bonnie Crombie, City of Mississauga
Mayor Rob Burton, Town of Oakville Mayor Dan Carter, City of Oshawa Mayor Jim Watson, City of Ottawa Mayor Dave Ryan, City of Pickering Mayor Dave Barrow, Town of Richmond Hill Mayor Walter Sendzik, City of St. Catharines Mayor Brian Bigger, City of Greater Sudbury Mayor Bill Mauro, City of Thunder Bay Mayor John Tory, City of Toronto Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua, City of Vaughan Mayor Dave Jaworsky, City of Waterloo Mayor Don Mitchell, Town of Whitby Mayor Drew Dilkens, City of Windsor |
chartercitytoronto@gmail.com
