MANITOULIN—The Trudeau Liberal government has announced a one-time top-up to the Gas Tax funding that every municipality receives in this year’s federal budget, effectively doubling the amount municipalities can expect to receive.
The Federal Gas Tax Fund is an amount of money collected through taxation on the sale of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel in Canada. The federal government redistributes some of the tax revenues it collects back to provinces and territories who then redistribute it accordingly. When contacted by The Expositor, most municipalities had yet to receive an official announcement about the funding increase.
According to figures from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), the initial Gas Tax funding amounts each township was expected to receive this year, before the announcement, were as follows: Assiginack, $61,461; Billings, $36,585; Burpee and Mills, 20,811; Central Manitoulin, $126,441; Dawson, $28,395; Gordon/Barrie Island, $29,730; Gore Bay, $52,603; Northeast Town, $164,544; and Tehkummah, $26,453.
After this one-time top-up, the estimated doubled amounts are: Assiginack, $122,922; Billings, $73,170; Burpee and Mills, $41,622; Central Manitoulin, $252,882; Dawson, $56,790; Gordon/Barrie Island, $59,460; Gore Bay, $105,206; Northeast Town, $329,088; and Tehkummah, $52,906.
The Expositor contacted the Island municipalities to determine their plans for the increased funding. All Gas Tax money must be spent on a limited spread of municipal expenses, with programs relevant to Manitoulin including fresh- and waste-water infrastructure, solid waste management, community energy systems, roads and bridges, capacity building, regional airports, disaster mitigation, broadband and connectivity, brownfield redevelopment, recreation and culture, tourism and sport projects.
No decisions had been made yet in Assiginack and Burpee and Mills when contacted by The Expositor this past week. Billings CAO Kathy McDonald said some of the surpluses will go into capital expenditures, a similar plan to what Tehkummah clerk-administrator Roy Hardy recommended at a recent meeting.
Gordon/Barrie Island and the town of Gore Bay both expressed their intent to grow their road work capacity by expanding projects already planned within the initial Gas Tax estimate. Central Manitoulin will be consulting with its roads committee to determine its path forward.
The Northeast Town has allocated its additional Gas Tax revenue toward the maintenance of the township’s existing roads.
“That’s predicated on the fact that we are expecting a very bad spring, with lots of damage from frost heaving. We’re going to be maintaining what we have,” said Northeast Town CAO Dave Williamson.
