Region sees two choices
Nov 12, 2008 - 02:17 PM
By Jennifer Stone
CLARINGTON -- Given the two choices Regional councillors will face when it comes to money generated by a provincial promise to upload services which were downloaded to municipalities a decade ago, Clarington's mayor is clear.
"The Region can either pass on the reduction in cost for those services in the form of reduction of taxes or leave taxes at the same level and put those funds toward services," Mayor Jim Abernethy said. "My preference would be to pass it on to the taxpayer in the form of a tax reduction."
The Region expects to save almost $36 million between 2009 and 2018 as the Province uploads items like social housing and welfare.
"All of those are services that don't belong on the property tax bill," Mayor Abernethy said.
The decade-old download dramatically impacted property taxes.
"The downloaded services have impacted property taxes in a negative way, so when you upload, you would expect the opposite" to happen, Mayor Abernethy said.
He credits the Association of Municipalities of Ontario for its work in convincing the Province to upload the services.
In 1998, the provincial government, then led by Conservative Mike Harris, downloaded a slew of services in exchange for the upload of part of the cost of education. Though the Province, at the time, claimed the exchange would be "revenue neutral," in the end it left Durham with $15 to 20 million in extra costs each year. That led to deferral of an array of major infrastructure projects.
The idea of the recent upload was to give municipalities room to improve infrastructure, Durham Finance Commissioner Jim Clapp said.
Whatever Regional councillors choose to do with the money, residents ought not to expect to see any immediate changes, especially given the almost decade between now and when the re-upload will be complete, Mayor Abernethy said.
"It will take time to be reflected in taxes or services," he said.
-- with files by Reka Szekely
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