AMO’s 2016 Pre-Budget Submission

01/19/2016

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, January 19, 2016

Today AMO President, Gary McNamara, presented AMO’s 2016 Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs in Windsor.

Highlights of AMO’s Submission include:

• The request to continue the upload to full maturity in 2018. Why? Because the upload allows municipal governments to reinvest in municipal infrastructure and services. From 2003-2008, before the upload, municipal infrastructure spending averaged almost $4 billion annually. From 2008-2012 it averaged above $6 billion annually. For 2013, municipal investments exceeded $7 billion. Both orders of government have been upholding their sides of the Agreement.
• We urge an increase to the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) of at least $11 million in 2017 to reflect inflationary adjustments. In particular, these dollars should be directed to municipalities with the most pressing fiscal circumstances and particularly those communities with high percentages of farmland and managed forests. This change would bring the OMPF to $516 million, just slightly more than was allocated in 2015.
• New research has estimated the true cost of interest arbitration for police and fire personnel. Had police and fire received the same economic adjustment as other municipal employees from 2010 to 2014, the cumulative savings would have been $485 million. This includes $72 million in fire service savings and $111.6 million in police service savings for 2014 alone. These extraordinary sums of money are the true cost of the failure to address interest arbitration reform. Will 2016 be the year we finally get to a better place?

These are just three of the many issues raised in the submission. The municipal sector’s simple ask is to solve these outstanding issues and prepare for the future.

Municipal governments wishing to make their own written submissions to the Committee have until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 2, 2016. Submissions can be directed to: