MANITOULIN—While some municipalities on Manitoulin Island will see a decrease in funds being provided by the provincial government through the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) in 2016, others will see an increase.
“Our OMPF funding allocation has gone down this year,” confirmed Kathy McDonald, clerk of the township of Billings, on Monday.
In Billings’ case, Ms. McDonald explained, “in 2016 our OMPF allocation is $438,500, which is down from $463,500 in 2015.” In 2014 Billings received $486,800 in OMPF funding.
“Our OMPF funds go towards the township operations,” Ms. McDonald told the Recorder.
For Assiginack Township the total OMPF funding being provided for 2016 is $649,500, which is an increase from $637,800 in 2015.
The Municipality of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands (NEMI) will see a decrease in OMPF funding in 2016. NEMI will receive a total of $1,259,000 in 2016, down from $1,342,200 in 2015.
The Town of Gore Bay will see a small increase in OMPF funding for 2016. In 2015 the town received $388,900 while in 2016, Gore Bay is slated to receive a total of $396,800.
The Municipality of Central Manitoulin will see an increase in its funding. In 2015, Central Manitoulin received $1,172,900 while in 2016 the municipality is to receive $1,179,900.
For the township of Burpee and Mills, there will be a decrease in funding. The township will receive a total of $242,100 in OMPF funding in 2016, compared to $247,500 in 2015.
For the municipality of Gordon-Barrie Island, funding has decreased very slightly. In 2015 the municipality received $510,300 in funding compared to $510,200 in 2016.
OMPF is the province’s main transfer payment to municipalities. In 2016, the province will provide a total of $505 million in unconditional funding to 388 municipalities through OMPF. This includes an additional $5 million in funding through the Northern Communities Grant to further support Northern communities, as committed in the 2015 Ontario budget.
The OMPF combined with the municipal benefit resulting from the provincial uploads will total over $2.3 billion in 2016. This is nearly four times the level of funding provided in 2004, a ministry of finance release explains.
In 2012, the provincial government announced the review of the OMPF and the phase-down of the program by 2016. This is the final year of the phase-down that was part of the 2008 provincial-municipal fiscal and service delivery review (PMFSDR) agreement to upload social assistance benefit programs and court security and prisoner transportation costs off the property tax base.
Despite the phase-down of the program, overall support provided to municipalities will continue to increase, with the provincial uploads more than offsetting the reduction to the program, the release points out.
The redesigned OMPF was introduced in 2014 following consultations with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and municipal representatives from across the province. The program is comprised of four core grant components that reflect the following objectives: support areas with limited property assessment; recognize the challenges of Northern and rural municipalities, while targeting funding to those with more challenging fiscal circumstances; and assist municipalities as they transition to the redesigned program.
