ST. THOMAS – Local municipalities can expect to see the costs of Ontario Works benefits and court security paid by the province when the elements in a new report are fully implemented in 2018.
Currently, municipalities pay for certain social assistance benefit program costs, including a portion of Ontario Works benefits, from property taxes. This will no longer be the case as a result of an agreement reached by the provincial government, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the City of Toronto.
Once fully implemented, the uploads agreed to in the report will result in a net annual benefit to municipalities of more than $1.5 billion compared to 2007. Projected total annual support to municipalities, including other provincial initiatives, will be $3.8 billion in 2018 – an increase of $2.7 billion or about 250 per cent since 2003.
For St. Thomas and Aylmer, this means $3,299,000 and $960,000 respectively in increased annual benefit by the time the upload is complete in 2018.
The report, ‘Facing the Future Together’, is the product of the Review, a partnership between the Ontario government, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the City of Toronto.
The uploads mean municipalities can build and repair more infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, libraries, recreation centres, sewer systems and water plants.
“Through partnerships with municipalities, the provincial government is uploading social assistance costs, building on its poverty agenda, at an affordable pace,” Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Steve Peters said. “This agreement represents the success that can be achieved by working together while recognizing Ontario's fiscal challenges in the current global economic environment."
QUICK FACTS
By 2018, municipalities will see a $1.5 billion per year net benefit from this agreement. In 2007, during the early stages of the Review, the government announced the upload of the Ontario Disability Support Payments program and the Ontario Drug Benefits program, to be completed by 2011:
- The municipal costs for Ontario Drug Benefits were uploaded effective January 1, 2008.
- Starting in 2009, we will begin the upload of municipal costs for the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). The ODSP upload will be completed by 2011.
Today’s announcement provides the further upload of Ontario Works benefits and court security costs:
- Starting in 2010, the province will upload the municipal costs of Ontario Works benefits (income and employment assistance) over nine years.
- Starting in 2012, the province will upload the costs of court security (including offender transportation) over seven years, by providing funding to municipalities to a maximum of $125 million annually at maturity.
Service delivery recommendations in the report mean provincial and municipal governments will work together to refocus programs and services around delivering results for people.
The province provided almost $7 billion in funding for municipal infrastructure in the last three years.
In addition to the uploads resulting from the Review, since 2003, the province has increased OMPF funding, uploaded public health costs by increasing the provincial share from 50 per cent to 75 per cent, made additional investments in land ambulance services, and provided two cents per litre of provincial gas tax to municipalities to improve public transit.
Projected total support to municipalities, including other provincial initiatives, will be $3.8 billion in 2018 – an increase of $2.7 billion or about 250 per cent over 2003.
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For more information contact: Craig Bradford, Communications Assistant, (519) 631-0666.