As municipalities plan budgets for 2025, officials are trying to affordably provide services while coping with rising costs some have called “insurmountable.”
North Glengarry treasurer Zoe Bougie presented a recent staff report to Council for the third quarter, showing the many areas where costs have exceeded the 2024 budget.
Some items were unexpected expenses that won’t be recurring, but other expenses are red flags for the Township and need to be monitored.
From rising insurance rates, increased bank costs, to consulting fees, salaries and even dog-catching fees, the Township is feeling pressure. The question is where to find funds to support the needs of the communities.
As it stands, municipalities support 60 per cent of their local infrastructures while only receiving 10 per cent of every tax dollar, according to the Canadian Federation of Municipalities.
Councillor Michael Madden presented a resolution at the same meeting calling upon all levels of government to address the concerns and needs of rural communities to fund their infrastructure. The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC), along with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, are looking for both the provincial and federal governments to partner with small rural municipalities to find solutions to the increasing infrastructure deficit for Eastern Ontario.
An additional $578 million a year is needed to maintain assets and address the region’s infrastructure deficit, says the EOWC.
The EOWC argues that “Eastern Ontario’s small rural municipalities face insurmountable challenges to fund both new growth related infrastructure and ongoing maintenance of their capital assets including local roads and bridges, clean water, wastewater, waste facilities, and municipally owned buildings including recreational facilities and libraries.”
In addition, the provincial government froze property value assessments in 2020 and has not lifted that freeze. This limits revenue that could be generated for the Township since assessments are currently based on 2016 values.
While the communities of Eastern Ontario are large exporters, particularly through the agriculture industry providing grain and meat products, the balance for maintaining infrastructure such as roads and bridges is weightier.
For instance, the cost for taxpayers to maintain one kilometre of road in rural Ontario is shared by only ten households, but in cities and urban areas, this same cost is shared among 28 households. As well, in Eastern Ontario a bridge is maintained by 236 households but in a city that same cost is shared by 709 households.
Since 2023, communities in Eastern Ontario have built more housing units per 100,000 people than Toronto, according to the EOWC.
