Halton Hills calls on province to update municipal funding framework

By: Christian Collington, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TheIFP.ca

 

Halton Hills council is calling on the province to undertake a comprehensive review of how municipalities are funded.

 

During the April 20 council meeting, council unanimously endorsed a motion requesting that the province, in collaboration with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and other municipal partners, modernize the way responsibilities and revenues are shared between Queen’s Park and local governments.

 

The motion noted that municipalities like Halton Hills now routinely fund and deliver services that intersect with traditional provincial responsibilities, including:

 

  Housing and social services

 

  Certain capital and infrastructure obligations

 

  Recreation and community facilities that support population growth

 

Property tax regressive

 

At the same time, the primary municipal revenue tool — property tax — was repeatedly described by councillors as both regressive and structurally limited.

 

“Municipalities in Canada receive on average eight to 10 cents of every tax dollar collected, but own about 60 per cent of the infrastructure,” Coun. Clark Somerville said. “Our rules were written in an era of buggy whips and spats and we’re trying to manage 21st-century realities with 19th-century fiscal tools.”

 

Councillors pointed to major local projects, such as road expansions, stormwater infrastructure, recreation facilities and growth-related capital, that now strain a tax base never designed to carry so much responsibility on its own.

 

Councillors, mayor speak out

 

Coun. Jason Brass stressed that the motion is not an attempt to avoid local accountability, but to align expectations with actual capacity.

 

“This isn’t about shifting blame,” Brass said. “It’s about asking the province to clearly define the goalposts, so expectations match the tools we have.”

 

The motion reaffirmed that controlling local tax increases remains council’s responsibility, regardless of what changes may emerge from a provincial review.

 

Mayor Ann Lawlor cited housing and social services as clear examples of the misalignment in the current framework.

 

She referenced the new assisted housing project in Georgetown, where the town has provided land, waived fees and contributed extensive staff time, Halton Region has stepped in as a key partner and the federal government has supported the project through low-interest loans.

 

Lawlor added the province, traditionally responsible for funding social and affordable housing, “is completely out of the picture.”

 

Councillors also flagged recent provincial changes to development charges as a further complication for growth-related infrastructure funding.

 

Coun. Alex Hilson pointed to large-scale road projects, such as Eighth Line, which carries a price tag in the range of the town’s entire annual tax levy, as evidence that the current model is intensely strained.

 

“Property tax is a regressive tax,” Hilson said. “It’s based on assessment, not income. With changing development charge rules and major growth pressures, we need more certainty and a framework that matches the scale of what we’re being asked to deliver.”

 

Councillors noted that similar calls have already been made by municipal associations and that Halton Hills has passed comparable resolutions in the past. They expressed hope that repeated, co-ordinated advocacy from municipalities across Ontario will help push the issue higher on the provincial agenda.

 

Next steps include forwarding a copy of the resolution to Premier Doug Ford, the minister of municipal affairs and housing, the minister of finance, the minister of infrastructure and other key municipal and provincial stakeholders.

 

“We’ve kicked at this a few times,” Coun. Bob Inglis said. “The cat’s still living, but we’ll keep kicking. Property taxes alone cannot sustain the level of infrastructure and services residents expect. We need a modern, long-term solution.”