2022 Provincial Pre-Budget Submission

MFOA has submitted comments to the Ministry of Finance as part of the 2022 pre-budget consultations. MFOA’s recommendations are based on how the Province can further support municipal fiscal health and promote collaboration between governments.

Our recommendations are as follows:

1. Maintain commitment to provide early and complete information of funding allocations
2. Work with the Federal Government to secure funds to address municipal operating pressures. A funding stream for public transit services should continue into 2022 on a needs-basis to offset decreases in transit ridership, as well as a funding stream for public health supports to accommodate the urgent need for pandemic-related resources 
3. Launch a reform on joint and several liability and a formal review on the municipal insurance landscape to identify potential measures and reforms to lower insurance premiums
4. Provide supports for municipalities to meet the asset management timelines as outlined in O. Reg. 588/17 under the Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, 2015 
5. Provide flexibility in infrastructure funding programs to enable municipalities to choose projects that reflect municipal priorities, be informed by municipal asset management plans, and contributes to municipal sustainability and community vitality
6. Create a funding program for organic waste collection for small and medium-sized municipalities
7. Carry out province-wide property assessments in the 2024 taxation year based on a valuation base year of January 1, 2023, to be phased-in over a four-year period of 2024 to 2027 
8. Continue efforts to reduce the reporting burden for municipalities by streamlining reporting and working with municipal stakeholders to find areas for elimination, consolidation and simplification
9. Amend the current “Heads and Beds” rate of $75 to $158 beginning in 2022 and reset every 5 years with each review of the Municipal Act, 2001, reflecting inflation in the Ontario consumer price index