The Recorder
ONTARIO—Municipalities throughout Canada received some great news in terms of funding from the federal government through the gas tax fund with in the 2019 federal budget.
“The federal government has doubled the amount of gas tax funds being provided to municipalities this year,” said Ken Noland, chair of the Manitoulin Municipal Association (MMA) and reeve of Burpee-Mills township, last week. “This is a one-time fund, and then we will get our normal allocation (next year).”
Dan Osborne, mayor of Gore Bay said, “all municipalities’ gas tax funding amounts have been doubled this year. It’s nice to be getting this.”
The Township of Burpee-Mills had received a notice from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) in which it was explained, “as part of the 2019 budget, the federal government announced it will top-up the federal Gas Tax Fund with a one-time transfer of $2.2 billion. Ontario’s share is expected to be over $800 million based on the 2018 allocation. This funding is in addition to your 2019 allocation.”
“The additional one-time amount is expected to be equal to the total amount each municipality received in 2018, i.e. the sum of your July and November 2018 payments,” the AMO release noted. “The additional funding must be used in accordance with your current agreement with AMO for the transfer of federal gas tax funds. AMO has worked with municipalities to ensure they are in compliance with the agreement and that funds can be transferred immediately upon receipt from Infrastructure Canada.”
However, the one-time $2.2 billion windfall in the federal budget to help Canadian municipalities improve roads, bridges, highways and water systems won’t be an annual tradition, Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has warned municipalities. The multi-billion-dollar top-up will double the money municipalities receive this year through the federal gas tax fund, which sends money directly to municipalities each year.
