Provincial downloading fears discussed at AMO
If the previous provincial government had not uploaded services, Pelham’s Mayor Dave Augustyn said his town’s tax increase this year would have been twice as high.
After participating in a workshop led by Nick Nanos of Nanos Research during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa, Augustyn said fears that the new Tory government could again download services to municipalities are shared overwhelmingly from people across the province.
“People are worried that the provincial government will download things to the municipal government. They don’t want that to happen,” Augustyn said in an interview Tuesday.
An opinion poll presented by Nanos during the conference showed 87.3 per cent of Ontario residents are concerned or somewhat concerned that new demands placed on municipal governments will result in added costs to property taxes.
“That is a real concern,” Augustyn said.
Under the last Conservative government led by Mike Harris, Augustyn said, provincial programs were downloaded to the municipal level adding millions of dollars to property tax bills across Ontario.
Augustyn said this year’s
Town of Pelham budget increase was about 2.5 per cent. If the last provincial government had not uploaded services, “we would have had to increase taxes by another 2.5 per cent just to cover the amount that was uploaded.”
As the government under Premier Doug Ford looks for costcutting opportunities, Augustyn is concerned that may lead to additional downloading “that’s going to impact property taxes across the entire Niagara Region.”
Augustyn said he will meet with Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark on Wednesday to discuss property taxes and wealth creation in communities.