Waiting for Ottawa

 

During the region’s budget deliberations, it came out that the region is facing a problem in the years to come. In order to properly maintain the roads of Durham Region, there needs to be more than $7 million added to the budget per year. On top of that, in order to properly maintain infrastructure in the region – whether it be through rehabilitation or a full-out replacement, Durham is going to need another $26.7 million between now and 2025.

It goes without saying that a shortfall of more than $60 million in the next decade is a lot of ground to make up for.

But fear not, councillors say – the federal government is here to the rescue!

During last year’s federal election, the man who would become prime minister made a promise. Justin Trudeau said billions of dollars would be rolled out across the country for infrastructure projects. Word is the first round of funds is going to be seen in the next federal budget.

This expected windfall of cash has the region – along with municipalities across the country – excited.

Durham has said this money can be used to go towards its infrastructure funding gap. Earlier this month, Mayor John Henry, speaking as a member of the region’s transit executive committee, tabled a successful motion to defer the decision to raise the price of the U-Pass – the discounted rate for which postsecondary students can access public transit – because money from the feds could make up for the funding gap.

But here’s the thing – at this point, Trudeau’s pledge for increased infrastructure funds is a campaign promise. And while there may be funds in the upcoming federal budget, it remains to be seen how much there will be. Plus, what can the money be spent on? How do municipalities get their hands on it? These are questions that still need to be answered, and likely won’t be until budget time in Ottawa. And that’s still at least a month or two away.

So while it will be nice for these funds to come Durham’s way, the region – along with other municipalities – can’t be banking on that money to come to solve all their woes. Because at the end of the day, it may not be enough, or it may not come at all. Municipalities need to be coming up with other solutions to these funding problems, and just hope the money will come from Ottawa.