Provincial funding woes aren’t over: mayor

With the 2010 budget ironed out, some people are working on figuring out an easier way to get through next year’s budget.

It won’t be easy, Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez warned. He said securing Ontario Municipal Partnership Funds (OMPF) for the next budget will only get harder.

“If we don’t get mitigation (funds for the city) next year,” the budget will be in trouble, the mayor said. “We won’t know (whether or not the city will get it) and we’ll go through the same last-minute process.”

This year, the city went through several months not knowing what amount it would receive through funding from the province, which had council looking at a possible spike in tax increases if the province had offered nothing or, significantly less, than expected. “This year the municipality was fortunate the province came through with $5.7 million worth of one-time funding,” Lorella Hayes, the city’s chief financial officer, said. “We are unaware of whether (OMPF) funds will continue subsequent to 2010. Council and staff will be (trying to work) with the province to ensure the one-time funding can be kept in place for future years to try and avoid service cuts or tax increases.”

Ted Callaghan, finance committee chair, said the process has taught council some lessons. “What we’ve learned is that we’re going to have to go down to the province and we’re really going to have to see them about the OMPF. This time we got the $5.7 million, which came forward, but we were still short.

“Over the next year, we really have to address the issue and prepare the next council for this possible reduction of money related to this fund.”

Callaghan said to throw this in front of a less-experienced council next year is unthinkable.

“To pop this on the desk of new councillors in 2011 is, as far as I’m concerned, not the way to go. So we really have to address this issue and come up with plans as to how we’re going to deal with that.”

The mayor said it will be important to trim all areas of spending this year. “We have to take a hard look as we go through 2010 as to how we can do things more economically and save as much as we can, in case we don’t get the (OMPF funding) next year.”

The mayor said next year’s budget will be reliant on $12 million from the province, as compared to the $6.4 million the city was relying on this year.

“What caused our shortfall was the increase in (property) assessments,” Rodriguez said. “They were up 55 per cent, whereas the average in the province was 22 per cent. Our assessment was done in 2008. So here we are, in an economic downturn, finding out we got penalized because our assessments went up.”

OMPF uses housing assessments as a tool to gauge how much funding to give to communities.