Councillors give colleague cold shoulder for not using special ward funds to fix rutted Main West

Aidan Johnson got more than he bargained for when he asked council for $1.4 million to quickly repair pothole-riddled sections of Main Street West.

He got the emergency cash all right, but the Ward 1 councillor also received a verbal spanking for not previously dipping into his special infrastructure cash to fix the cratered roadway.

Under questioning from Donna Skelly, Johnson admitted that during this term he spent “zero” dollars on road repairs from the nearly $1.7 million in area rating funds he and the other inner councillors receive annually.

By contrast Tom Jackson and Chad Collins, who also get the area rating gravy, have spent millions repaving and repairing roads in their wards.

Johnson defended himself by pointing out engaged Ward 1 residents decide how to spend the dollars through a “participatory budget process” which he stands by as a “transparent, democratic, grassroots initiative.”

But some councillors were less than impressed. Given that the bad state of roads is a “huge problem” across the city, Skelly said she was “disappointed” council had to go outside the Ward 1 area rating reserve to pay for the Main West repairs.

“I would really hope that … all our councillors would start using area rating for infrastructure.”

Sam Merulla said that asking people what they want to spend the money on when there’s already a long list of work that needs to be done is equivalent to going to Disney World when your house is falling apart.

Merulla believes participatory budgeting should be based on addressing existing demands rather than creating new ones that generate more financial pressures on the city.

City records show that while Johnson has invested heavily in sidewalk repairs and park upgrades, other area rating projects include things like complete street plans, bike lanes, a water bottle refilling station, the Westdale Theatre renovation, and even money for a consultant to help figure out the best way to do participatory budgeting.

According to Johnson, whether or not the money should be spent on roads is endlessly debated during his sessions with residents.

“One of the primary arguments is $1.5 million doesn’t get you very far in terms of doing roads,” he said.

That drew an incredulous “What?” from Doug Conley who must have been wondering what the heck Johnson was talking about since the $1.4 million approved by council is enough to repave Main West all the way from Cootes Drive to Macklin Avenue in both directions. That’s a mighty long stretch of asphalt.

The $1.4 million is coming from two sources — $700,000 from unallocated capital reserves and $700,000 from the Ward 1 fund for minor maintenance projects. There’s another story for you.

Each councillor gets $200,000 a year for that maintenance fund. Obviously Johnson chose to bank the money rather than spend it. That may have some Ward 1 residents echoing Conley’s “What?” given the sad state of some of the area’s side streets.

On top of that, Johnson still has a hefty $800,000 left in the fund. Apparently his Ward 1 predecessor Brian McHattie also preferred to hoard rather than use the money.

In an interview, Johnson said he’s been banking the money for an emergency. “And I’m really glad I did.”

No doubt. As Lloyd Ferguson noted, throwing in the $700,000 from the fund was necessary to get buy-in from council for the emergency repair.

For his part, Johnson argues it’s fair to tap into capital reserves for the other $700,000 because Main West is not a local road but a “super arterial” used for an estimated 55,000 vehicle trips a day.

He’s right about that. Just as he’s right that this winter’s freeze-thaw cycle has taken a terrible toll on the route. But beyond the upcoming quick fix to Main West, clearly the best thing to come out of this discussion is a renewed focus on how area rating money is used.

It was originally intended to be spent on hard infrastructure. The problem, as Merulla notes, is some councillors have taken a “creative approach” to what that means.

Without a more focused approach, all the citizen participation in the world won’t remove the frivolous taint of flying off to Disney World while your roof is leaking.