Ruling against city bumps up agency bill

It looks like Hamilton taxpayers will have to pay even more than anticipated for a lost tribunal battle over conservation authority costs.

The city recently lost its appeal of a Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority decision in 2015 to change a long-standing funding formula that effectively doubled the annual bill for its services to Hamilton.

(The authority is based in Niagara but is also responsible for watersheds in parts of Hamilton and Haldimand. All three municipalities fund the agency.)

The decision by the provincial Mining and Lands Commissioner means the city failed to recoup $2.5 million in contested bills. It also bumps up the 2018 bill by $850,000.

Now, other conservation authorities that partly extend into Hamilton, like Grand River and Halton, are “reviewing that decision,” said city budget chief Mike Zegarac.

He said Friday it’s possible one or both will opt to adopt the funding formula endorsed in the commissioner’s ruling.

If so, the Hamilton taxpayers will eventually owe an extra $450,000 to Halton’s conservation authority and another $1.1 million to the Grand River agency.

Councillors will learn more when those conservation authorities formally present their 2018 budgets in a meeting next week.

Councillors went behind closed doors Friday to discuss the feasibility of an appeal.

That matter would go before the Mining and Lands Commissioner.

Results of the closed-door meeting were not made public.