Prince Edward County is asking the province to hand over a cut of the Land Transfer Tax proceeds to municipalities, in order to help offset costs brought on by the province downloading infrastructure onto municipalities.
Councillor Bill Roberts brought the motion forward during Tuesday’s council meeting. He said that the funding would help municipalities, like Prince Edward County, meet rising infrastructure maintenance costs without having to raise property taxes.
“Ontario municipalities urgently need predictable, long-term funding to support critical infrastructure,” said Councillor Roberts. “It’s a pretty good answer, and perhaps it’s a bit snarky on my part, but it’s a pretty good answer to those cabinet ministers that we meet at conferences, when they say ‘well, what exactly do you want?'”
The motion also calls on the federal government to pay part of the GST collected on property sales back to municipalities, for the same reasons.
Council unanimously voted to support the motion. Official requests are to be made to the provincial and federal governments, while copies of the resolution are to be sent to all 444 municipalities in Ontario along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams, and Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Alsopp.
